Our Regrets
by reBELLS14
Summary: Please read Her Eyes and then His Eyes before this story. Part 3/4: With time comes change. It's been five years since Katara has seen Zuko, but before anything can happen, their nations give them some of the most difficult challenges yet. Will they be able to commit to the duties they were given, or will they falter under all of the regrets they share? Could you take it all back?
1. Prologue

I do NOT own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Part One

Prologue

Katara's POV

Can someone truly hate herself for being the person that they are? Can someone truly loathe herself for leaving the love of her life, all because she was afraid of the future? This hatred inside of me, does not go out to the man I love, but rather to the young girl I used to be, who was afraid to love the unknown. I was so afraid to take risks, and now I have to go on with the rest of the world, who continues to move forward, and face new terrors.

Looking out at the gorgeous blue sea, I see a sort of emptiness, like the one inside of me. Every day, I feel regret and solemnity as I remember that I had broken all of my ties to him.

**His entire body was frozen, and when I looked into his eyes, they were cold plates of gold, not moving from where they are looking down at my face. His arms were sitting on the ground motionless as if they had died.**

All of the emotions I had felt that night rushed back to me, and I felt the stinging sensation of what only could be salty tears. I regret everything that I had said that night to him. I never meant anything that I said; all of it was a complete and utter lie. I lost everything that meant anything to me that night. He was truly my everything too…

**"One more thing before I leave you to think, I just want to say that everything I do is for you because I love you. You are my life, my dreams, and my future… Katara you are my everything…"**

Every single night that I thought of him, I cried endlessly alone while everyone and everything sped on by as time came and went. As this quiet and lonely night bore on, I counted in my head the number of nights I had spent alone, weeping for what could have been…

It has been five years, two-hundred and sixty weeks, one-thousand eight-hundred and twenty six days, forty-three thousand eight-hundred and twenty-four hours, two-million six-hundred twenty-nine thousand and four-hundred and forty minutes, or one hundred fifty-seven million seven-hundred sixty-six thousand and four hundred seconds since I told Zuko…

"… **I know that you love me and all, but I don't think that we should pursue this. It is in our elements, I mean, you are fire; I am water, making us total opposites. And before you say 'opposites attract', sometimes they don't. I don't think that you should go on thinking that you "love" me… Now I think that we should focus on teaching Aang, and defeating the Fire Lord, instead of this "relationship..."**

I am an idiot…

The ocean rocks this metal death trap, keeping me calm and peaceful. I hate being trapped on this stupid boat because it, well, reminds me of him. This boat, however, not only reminds everyday at see as I look at all of the red silks and Fire Nation banners, but it is also dragging me back to him as well…

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><p>AN: Hello my readers. I would just like to say thank you guys for reading my story. This story follows after His Eyes and is the end of this little series. I hope you guys like this ending, it will probably be as long as the others because I am not really in the spirited mood, but I will be sure to finish out the series. I can't just give a series and not finish it. My other story I Love Strawberries was just something I have been thinking about for a while now, and I needed to write it down. I have been working on both stories about the same, but I am not feeling this one, I need to get in the zone or whatever to write this so I am sorry it took so long for me to write it. I know that this prologue was a little short, but it was necessary. Please read and review.<p> 


	2. Chapter 1

Key:

Normal font

_Thoughts (depending on the character POV)_

**Flashback**

_**Dream**_

Chapter 1

Katara's POV

**A few days ago…**

**The cold bitter air hit me as I left my house. My people have been working hard after these last five years to rebuild our new tribe, with the help of our sister tribe. Waterbenders from the Northern Tribe have been kind enough to devote their time to help us build a better wall to protect us from any of the members of the Fire Nation Rebels…**

**The Fire Nation Rebels are only that as their name calls them, the rebels of the Fire Nation, who still wish to follow under the former Fire Lord Ozai. After Ozai's death from his dying will power is what Aang said, more and more of the people have been joining into ranks with the Rebels. Fire Lord Zuko and Aang have been working hard to ward them off of us, but they still only grow angrier.**

**Being the daughter of the Chief, I held more responsibilities, especially since Sokka left to be with Sukki on Kyoshi Island. Dad wanted me to learn to be more sophisticated and more proper in the ways of ladyship considering how I was now the only Water Tribe Princess. After Yue died, the Water Tribes had decided that any Princess, whether she be of the North or of the South, should learn etiquette and poise like she had and resemble who she was. **

**Now, considering how I am a Master Waterbender, you would think that I would resent my father and run away from home, but I did not. Instead I chose to remain here with my father, and watch over the Southern Water Tribe. The other stuff, like acting like a total priss was not entirely my idea, but I consented with the fact that I would one day be married off to a man who would become the next Chief…**

**I did not, however, think that dad had today in mind…**

"**Katara? Where did you go?"**

**Deeply sighing in exasperation, I turned around with the biggest smile I could muster, and called out, "Outside dad.'**

**He came up from the shadows hallways inside the house. Years of long battles and harsh conditions show greatly on his face. His eyes were duller then they used to be when mom was still here, and his skin showed the scars of one hundred battles. He looked a little weary as he walked to where I stood.**

"**Katara… You now you shouldn't leave the house without an escort, someone could kidnap you or worse kill you."**

**Turning around so that he wouldn't see me rolling my eyes, I said, "Oh dad, I know, I know. As the princess of both of the Water Tribes, I hold the duty to my people to remain able to protect them. My duty is to serve my people…"**

**Feeling his hand on my shoulder, I turned toward him. His eyes held a semblance of worry or sorrow, and I did not know whether it was to the fact that I was stuck in this icy prison.**

"**I know that you may feel like you are alone and stressed, but I think that you should know that I am only doing this because I love you. Although you may not have thought that the war would force you into this type of life, but it is what it is. I am sorry if this isn't what you had in mind of the perfect 'happily ever after.'" **

**Sighing deeply, I smirked at him with my rose-colored stained lips, "Dad, honestly, this was not what I had in mind, but it is something that I know what must be done as the princess. I only wish that I could do more than just stand around and be pretty."**

**Chuckling, he scratched the back of his neck and said, "Well, there is one thing that you could do for the good of the Tribes. It requires a lot of sacrifice, but it is only if you are willing to do it for us…"**

**I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat from the fear that I held within myself. If the future of the Tribes was at stake, who was I to not help my tribe?**

**Glancing up to my father's solid blue eyes, I spoke softly with what little voice I had in me, "Anything for my tribe, what, may I ask, must I do?"**

**Without giving me another look, dad said, "You must marry a member of the Fire Nation Council…"**


	3. Chapter 2

AN: I thought I should say that the last chapter was necessary in the making of this story because it kind of explains how Katara has changed in this story. In this chapter I will begin to explain a lot about what happened to her after Team Avatar won the war, and why I made her like this.

Chapter 2

Katara's POV

The warmth of the cup filled me inside with little glee. I held no happiness as I gained closer along in my journey to the Fire Nation, waiting for the end of my life, and the beginning of my servitude to begin.

Placing the cup down carefully in front of me, I noticed how my hands would automatically clasp together into my lap, like a routine… I begin to smirk remembering my mentor or teacher, who nearly died whenever I would drink my cup of Ginseng tea in one toss of my head…

"**Your highness, you must gracefully grasp the cup within your right hand and bring it to your lips while your left hand is holding onto your sleeve to prevent any mistakes. Then you are to gently touch the cup to your lips, like a kiss and take a small sip…"**

**I began to roll my eyes as she babbled on and on about the disappointment the Chief will have whenever I show up to my coming out banquet or whatever with my back slouched or any other nonsense. It was always the same boring crap, and I was sick and tired of everything, especially her royal ass. **

"**Your highness, a proper young lady does not roll her eyes, and must keep her back straight."**

**She smacked my back with the back of her hand, and I shot straight up in my seat at the contact. **

"**Very good, now let's continue…"**

I chuckled very quietly under my breath. That old hag had made me walk around with a rod going down my back, so that I could learn how to stand properly. Talk about having a pole shoved up your ass.

"Your highness, do you desire anything else with your tea. I could get you a tart cake or something else?"

Sighing quietly, I looked up at my lady in waiting, Yori, she was a tiny woman with pale blue eyes and the darkest of raven colored hair. She was very pretty and I always wondered why she never went and married herself, being how she was just breeching the point of being middle-aged. Yori always helped me whenever I had trouble with my studies, or with being a demure lady. Before she was my lady in waiting, she had been Yue's, so she knew how to handle taking care of a princess.

"No, no thank you Yori. I do not require anything right now. You are excused for the day if you wish. I just need time to be alone."

Her eyebrows furrowed at my words, and I knew that she would ask later about what was concerning me, but she did as I said and bowed out of the room. I remembered whenever we had first met. I was nervous about having someone waiting on me hand and foot, considering I am the one who normally does a lot of work.

"**Katara, this is Yori, she will be your lady in waiting while you live here. She will do all of the tasks that you will ask of her, and make sure that you are prepared in everything that needs attending to. Yori will also be helping you in all that you need to know for any important dates and such. Yori, this is Princess Katara, I hope that she will be no trouble to you."**

**My eyes wandered over the older woman. I saw that by the way she carried herself that made me feel that she was very wise. **

**Her eyes held no sneer, or any distaste at my appearance. In fact, she looked at me with a kind of boldness that looked as though she given a difficult challenge, and that she was ready for it. Looking down at myself, I saw that my dress was wet in some places from where I was outside with the penguins, sledding.**

**Glancing back up, I saw that she held a slight smile to her face, almost like a smirk.**

"**It is an honor to make your acquaintance my Princess. Chief Hakoda, I look forward to assisting her with all of her duties."**

**My father grinned widely and walked away. Looking back at the girl, I saw that she was staring back at me.**

"**I guess we should get started with picking out a new outfit for you to wear."**

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><p>When Yori came back, she came in quietly and almost hesitant. I nodded for her to come forward and to go ahead in taking the tray back to the kitchen. I learned that you never mess with Yori whenever it comes to her duties. I almost lost a hand whenever I tried to do things on my own…<p>

"**Yori, you do too much, I think I can handle brushing my own hair." **

**I reached for the brush on the vanity in my room. If looks could kill, I would have been strangled, burned, and then drowned in the bottom of the freezing ocean waters when I saw Yori's face. **

**Snatching the brush out of my hand, Yori smacked it with the backside of the brush harshly and then went straight to brushing the tangles out of my chocolate-colored hair. **

"**I do not know how many times I will have to say this, but taking care of your needs is my job now. I know that you could water-whip my butt into oblivion, but I do not care because I will just come right back and haunt you for the rest of your life. Now shut up and sit still while I untangle this giant knot in your hair."**

That was the first time that I had ever seen Yori angry at anyone, and I made sure that I was to never anger her ever again. Sure, she became frustrated with me because I wouldn't pay attention to whatever she was saying, but she never snapped at me like that.

Yori was the only person who I trusted anything with, and when she came back from the kitchens, I looked into her stern, yet, worried eyes and sighed.

"Alright, just sit on the bed and listen while I say this. You cannot say anything while I get this off of my chest, and depending on if you were good or not, I will let you ask questions."

She only gave a small huff and then crossed her arms, staring at me while nodding her head.

"It's Zuko. I have been thinking about him a lot lately, as you already knew. Yet, now that I am being sent to the Fire Nation, I can't help but be scared at the possibility of seeing him again, and with her. I know that I gave up the possibility of there ever being an 'us' between the two of us, but I can't help but regret the stupid mistake. And yet, I agreed to get married to a guy I do not know from his own country, when I still love Zuko. How stupid could I have been?"

Stopping for the breath that I needed throughout that entire story, I looked over at Yori, and shook my hands for her to say something. She stood up and came over to hug me for a bit. When I felt her move, I looked back up at her, and she said, "You were and still are very stupid."

"Gee, thanks."

"Well, I am sorry, but it sounds like you didn't think anything that you have done through. Clearly you need some sort of counseling or something."

I glared at her, and she held her hands up in a defensive way,

"No offense or anything."

Placing my head in my hands, I listened to the quiet and calming sea surrounding us. I could feel the pulse of the ocean, like a human heartbeat, just one enormous organism.

Suddenly, I heard the loud bellowing of the captain saying, "Full speed ahead men, we are in sight of the Fire Nation."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Katara's POV

The port was coming closer and closer, as I looked out of my window from my room. Yori looked at me with concern on her face, she knew that I was not prepared to come back to this place. With all of the memories of fighting by his side, I was vulnerable.

Snapping me out of my reverie, Yori said, "With the port being only a few hours away, let's make him not forget who he was truly in love with, and remind him that he settled for less."

I smiled slightly at her attempt to make me laugh and walked over to the bathtub. Over the years, I had fully grown into a young woman. My curves filled out more and were more defined than they were five years ago. My face was leaner and had gotten rid of all of its baby fat, yet it still held my rosy full-lips and more feminine azure eyes. My chocolate-colored hair still held its many curls, but was more easily manageable than it had been, silkier and reached to my waist.

Using my waterbending, I began to unwind from all of the tension that I had, feeling all of my stress just going away. Yori poured scented oils into my hair and scalp that smelled like a cherry blossom; it smelt amazing.

When I was finished with my bath, I was swathed in a towel. Yori began to pull my hair this way and that, trying to drain all of the water out of it, and then put into a braid that fell down my back. Soon, she was putting light traces of makeup on my face, not too much to look like a geisha, but not too little to look like a little girl. She pulled out one of my finest blue silk gowns that I had never worn before and a pair of my prettiest shoes to go with.

The dress was an amazing ocean blue that formed well to my body. It did not contain frills or anything bad like that, but white fur along the sweetheart neckline, on the ends of the two sleeves, and at the hem of the skirt. The skirt was simply floor-length and held no special stones or anything, but was simple. The dress's color matched perfectly with my eyes and practically made them sparkle in the light. It also made me look more exotic than normal, I felt beautiful.

Soon, Yori was pulling my hair out of the long braid she had it in, and my hair fell, cascading down my back in long dark waves.

"If I do say so myself, you look hot, my princess."

I looked at Yori with a bemused expression on my face, and we began to laugh.

"Thank you so much Yori."

She shot me a look and said, "Don't worry about it, it's my job. Now come on out to the deck. We have to go get your man."

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><p>AN: Hey guys thank you guys for reading this so far. I know that it may sound a little weird with the way Katara acts in this story compared to how she is in my first two stories, but I really like what I have been doing in this story, and I am staying with it through and through. Thank you to everyone who has ever favorited or reviewed any of my stories, you guys are the best. All of you who have ever read my stories, you are also the best. Please read and review.<p> 


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Zuko's POV

I have walked the Palace Grounds for years now. Everything has been perfect here. The perfect blossoms are produced from the trees at the precise time. The weather has always been perfect, and is never gloomy. My fiancé, Mai, is everything I could ever hope for. She never talks out of turn, she always takes care of my personal needs and wants, and she is the perfect woman for me. Perfect…

The only imperfect thing would have been the Fire Nation Rebels, who constantly attack the outer walls of the Fire Nation. They attack the innocent, preying on the one day that they will kill me and overthrow the government. They hate anything that has to do with me, or the idea of a better world made of the ideals of peace. Everyday I hear reports about the Fire Nation Rebels, slaughtering children and raping women out of fun. Yet, everyday we are one step closer to taking them down…

"My Lord, Captain Jee's ship has been spotted at the pier, they are to be there soon."

Sighing, I looked up from where I was staring at the potted plant sitting on my desk, its blue petals had entranced me with their beauty. His ship was suppose to bring some of the Water Tribe members up here, who wanted to strike up some kind of proposal with us. Really I didn't want to deal with them right now, but I knew that when Chief Hakoda had written to me about the whole ordeal, that it was something surely important.

Turning back to the servant, I said, "Thank you for telling me this, please, tell my palanquin bearers to prepare to take Mai and I to the piers and to arrange for some carriages for the arrivers."

Brusquely bowing out of my private chamber, the servant walked away. Glancing back to the plant, I remembered her azure eyes, like the raging ocean with all of the emotions that she kept inside of that mind of hers. I have always wondered what she was doing after our paths went in different directions, but I also always remembered that she was the one who never loved me back, and that I love Mai…

Perfect Mai…

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><p>The pace of the palanquin bearers had made me almost think back to when I was on my ship with uncle and his silly proverbs…<p>

"**Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not."**

Uncle always knew what to say whenever I needed help. At the beginning of my rule, he stayed with me at the palace for a while, but then I soon realized that he wasn't truly happy being there, so I told him that he should go back to Ba Sing Se and make tea again. At first he was shocked at what I had said…

"**Zuko, what would you do then? Do you not still need my help with the politics, or am I overstepping?"**

**I smirked at his immediate response and said, "Uncle you know I love hearing your input on how the government should be carried, but I know you do not like this life. I only want you to be happy."**

**The old man gazed upon me with wisdom evident in his brown eyes. His face reflected the worry lines of his son's life in the military, the laugh lines at the many conversations that they have held together with each other, and the sorrow he showed after the death of his only son. **

"**Zuko…"**

I shook my head at him, "No, uncle, you are going back to Ba Sing Se to bring back the Jasmine Dragon. I do not think that the Earth King would want anymore of that "hot leaf juice." What about you?"

**He looked up at me, and gave a hearty laugh, that soon turned into shaking tears. We held onto each other for the longest time. Uncle Iroh deserved to have his dream, so I wrote a letter to the Earth King.**

Now he is running his own shop with a misbehaving teenaged boy named Tatsuya, and every day he gets the chance, Uncle will write to me about how much he was so much like me when we were traveling.

I miss Uncle, too much to even bear, and I wish that he was here right now, but I know that he is happy where he is, and that I should respect that.

Mai was sitting in the palanquin coming along next to me on the right. Her head was held up high, scrunched up like she smelled something disgusting in the air. She had the most bored expression on her face, and when she saw me staring at her, she smirked and then went back to looking bored again.

Upon seeing the pier, I asked the palanquin bearers to stop, so that I may walk up to my guests. There were about ten Water Tribe men that traveled on the ship with Captain Jee, Chief Hakoda being in the front of them all, probably making a head count of all of his men. His faced was drawn up into confusion, and he turned to a man on his right, that I remembered to be Bato of the Southern Tribe. They spoke rushed and hurriedly, and then when Bato pointed out that I was standing there, Chief Hakoda quickly turned to face me.

"Fire Lord Zuko, a pleasure to see you again."

"The pleasure is mine Chief Hakoda, were there any problems on your travels here?"

He looked back to his men and then back to me, and said, "Well I am afraid to say that we lost some of our people. I cannot seem to find… Ah there she is," looking back once again to the ship.

I looked up and saw a sparkling night sky within her beautiful, azure eyes…

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><p>AN: Hey guys, thanks for still reading my story. I just wanted to say that if you did not understand the last line of this chapter, than you clearly did not read my other stories. But if you did, yahoo! Anyways, thanks you guys for reading and please keep reviewing. I have been having some difficult times with writing for a while now, but I am getting into the groove of the story again. I hope you guys keep reading.<p> 


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Zuko's POV

She was walking down the black metal bridge of the ship, making her way over to where we were standing. Her beautiful hair looked gorgeous cascading down her slender body in ringlets. Her skin, flawless, glowed with the color of her dress. Her eyes were stronger and more beautiful than any other woman I had ever lain my eyes on, holding a mischievous look in them as she walked down. Her body looked… Well, she looked… No words could even describe the way she walked seductively, her hips moving left and right. She truly was fairer than any other woman with her foreign looks alone, making her more comely than any Fire Nation woman.

"Zuko? Are you going to introduce us or not?"

Taking my eyes away from the girl, I saw Mai standing next to me with her hands, balled into fists on her hips.

Nodding, I said, "Oh! Um, yes. Mai this is Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe and his councilmen. Chief Hakoda, this is Lady Mai."

He nodded to Mai and then I felt a sudden jab on my side.

"Oomph!"

I looked down and saw that Mai had just elbowed me in the ribs, looking pissed off at me.

"Mai is my fiancé and future Fire Lady."

He extended his graces to Mai and bowed, "I am honored to meet you, my lady."

"The pleasure is mine," was all that came in reply in a bored tone.

"Chief Hakoda…"

He began to chuckle and then said, "Enough with these formalities, please call me Hakoda. You helped my son rescue me from Boiling Rock. You earned that right."

I smiled at his remark, "Only if you will call me Zuko."

"Agreed, now my lady, I do not believe that you have ever met my daughter, Princess Katara of the Southern Water Tribe?"

I had to do a double take on the woman who came forward. Katara? This was my Katara? This tamed and refined woman could not be Katara. Katara had fierceness in her eyes, which no one's could match. I did not believe it for one moment.

Mai came forward a bit with slight indignation evident across her features. Her straight, ivory nose was stuck straight up in the air, as if making it clear as to who was the superior woman here.

"We have, I am afraid during the war. We fought against each other. Your daughter has quite the skill in a duel. Unfortunately, if I do recall, she did lose when we fought each other."

Mai looked like she had won the entire battle she just started. It wasn't until that this woman spoke next, that I truly knew it was Katara:

"Now, Lady Mai, that may be true, but I also remember you had help when it came to fighting me. I believe her name was Ty Lee, I mean, if it wasn't for her, I never would have gone down during that fight. You had continuously thrown your knives, but I held my ground and blocked them off. It was your little friend that took me down, but because she fought from behind, two against one, and blocked off all of my chi."

I turned to look at Mai, and all I saw was pure anger. She was absolutely livid at what she had said. Obviously the girl was Katara, because no girl could ever match her quick wit, not even Mai.

Both of the girls were staring at each other, and if they could, they would be zapping each other away with bolts of electricity from their eyes. They continues to stare at each other like that until Katara's father spoke up…

"Now, now ladies. I think we should try and be civilized here now. Maybe we should all should just be on our way to the palace and out of this heat, don't you think so Zuko?"

He gave me a look, and I immediately understood and began to nod vigorously, saying, "Oh, yes. Come right this way."

Mai and Katara both jerked their eyes away from the other's, and when Katara saw my face, I knew that she had only just acknowledged my presence. Her eyes quickly became three different things: a raging sea storm, clouds that would blur a beautiful blue sky, and then nothing, they were blank and dull, holding a lack of interest inside of them.

"My Princess, I take it that these last few years has treated you well, yes?"

Her face never gave way to whatever she was feeling, and all that she had said was, "Yes, my Lord."

"Did you find your journey to your liking? Did my men treat you well aboard the ship?"

Still nothing, she said, "Yes, my Lord."

My knees almost gave to the lack of emotion in her gracious voice, as if she was dead. Standing there like a complete idiot, with my jaw on the floor, I began, "Well, that is good. I do hope you enjoy your stay in the Fire Nation Capitol. The weather is rather…"

Her eyes flickered for a moment, and then she had cut me off, "My apologies, my Lord, but I only wish that we proceed with my father's proposal then continue with this undesired conversation, if you would not mind."

Her voice was cert and stern with the tiniest bare traces of anger wrapped around her words like a serpent.

Nodding slowly, "Yes, as you wish."

"Thank you, my Lord."


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Zuko's POV

Sitting in the dining hall with my newest arrivals, I could not help but not contribute to the conversation because I was thinking of the way Katara was treating me earlier.

Why was she so angry with me? Did I say something that could have made her mad at me?

Glancing at her secretly without lifting my head up, I saw that she was sitting there demurely without saying anything until the girl she was sitting next to addressed her. She would place upon her beautiful face a kind smile and have a conversation with the elder lady sitting next to her. She would speak softly and kindly whenever she spoke, and her eyes held a kind of soft glimmer in them.

Why in Agni's name would she be so angry with me? She broke off what little of a relationship we had.

I began to breath heavy and felt a sudden pain in my abdomen, where Azula had shot me with lightning all of those years ago. Yet, even though Katara may have healed me that day, I could still feel the pain at times.

"Zuko are you alright?"

I snapped my head up, only to see about twenty pairs of eyes staring straight at me. Recognizing the voice as Hakoda's, I said, "Yes, I just had some pain from a previous wound, but the pain is gone, so everyone please continue to enjoy your dinner."

All of the people in the room went back to there previous task of eating, except three: Katara, Hakoda, and the girl.

"If you would not mind me saying this Zuko, but my daughter has quite the skill in healing. I am sure that she will be willing to-"

Cutting him off rather quickly, I said, "Oh no, that is fine, the pain flashes every once in a while, but it is rare."

Uncertain, Hakoda said, "Well alright… I guess then if you are sure about it?"

Nodding my head, the matter was dropped quickly. The dinner continued on without any fuss, with dinner soon served right after. All of the men talked with such abrasiveness about past endeavors, bringing a sort of family-like atmosphere. Seeing all of these sailors, reminded me of living out at sea for a little more than three years with my own ship and crew.

Hakoda stood up from the table, with a glass in his hand, "Now with Zuko's permission," I nodded giving him my blessing, "I would like to say that I am happy to be here today with you men and ladies. If it was not for this man, I would not necessarily be here, watching my daughter and son live the rest of their lives. Zuko had rescued me from Boiling Rock a long time ago, along side of my son, saving my daughter in law and I from a lifetime of suffering from torture. I also would like to show my gratitude for saving my daughter from your sister. Katara and Sokka are my entire world, and I can't imagine my life without them in it. I thank you, Fire Lord Zuko of the Fire Nation."

He bowed in deep respect, and then rose to clank his glass with all of the men. I felt a great swell of pride within myself for what I had done to preserve what limited family members they had within their family. Glancing around, I saw that Katara had tears in her eyes, making them glisten in the candlelight. I wanted to go to her and wrap her in my arms, but I knew that she would only push me away and then hate me for the rest of her life.

Quickly replacing the frown on my face, I said to Hakoda, "They were the right things to do. I could not just have left either of you to die, nor did I want to. You do not have to thank me for either one."

The man did not reply, but only said to his men, "My fellow companions, I think it would be best if you went to bed for the night. There is much for us to do tomorrow, and I wish to discuss the proposal with the Fire Lord."

The men all bid the Chief a goodnight and then went up to Katara, kissing her hand and wishing her pleasant dreams. My heart constricted as she blushed at the men's manners, and I only nodded to them as they bid me goodnight.

"Zuko?"

I had barely remembered that Mai was sitting next to me the entire dinner. Standing quietly with her arms crossed, she walked over to me and said, "I think that I will go to bed as well. Hurry back when you are finished."

I only replied with a nod, and she kissed me chastely on the cheek, and walked out behind the men from the room. Then there was only the Chief, his right-hand man, Bato, Katara, and her lady in waiting.

Hakoda, sat down in his seat and bit his lip, as if he was trying to debate on what to say. Bato looked tense about the whole situation, as did the lady in waiting. Katara, however, looked very terse, with her lips pulled into a very tight line.

"Zuko, I know that it may seem that the nations are at peace as of right now, however, the Northern Tribe is still rather angered with the past siege led by Admiral Zaoh, and they still think that although you promise to bring change to the ways of your nation, you will betray us and continue on with the war because you wanted to be the Fire Lord and not your father. Unfortunately, they believe that you only wanted the Ozai defeated, so that you would receive the crown in your own selfish greed. I cannot sway their anger away from the Fire Nation, but they have came up with their own idea of a resolution to the situation."

My eyes went up, and I couldn't help but ask, "Okay, well what may I ask is this 'resolution'?"

He sighed gravely, and I could see that he looked older than he acted right now, "As much as I hate to say this, but there might be no other way. Our sister tribe wishes for a sort of contract or a compromise between the two nations."

"Well, I assure you that we are open to almost any agreement. Whatever they have in mind, I am sure that my council and I will cooperate with them when it comes to brining peace."

"I have talked to the Chief of the Northern Tribe, and he is seemingly insistent on what they wishes to happen. All he ask is for your cooperation with what they want."

He got up from where he stood, and walked over to the window where the full moon had shown brightly in the sky.

"As you are well aware of, seeing as how you were there to begin with, you are well aware of the fact that there were two Water Tribe princesses. Yet, Princess Yue of the Northern had died to protect the world from utter chaos and thus became the Moon Spirit, leaving there to only be one princess."

"Yes, I am fully aware of that, but what does this have to do with the sit-"

"Please, let me finish. It is hard enough to even try to say this, but… the elders of the Northern Tribe would like for the bonding of the two nations by marriage."

I stared hard at the man. _Is he saying what I think he is saying, or am I just imagining this?_

"With Katara being the only Water Tribe Princess, the members would like for her to be set up in an arranged marriage with a Fire Nation nobleman. They say that if it were not for the fact that you are engaged, that they would be asking this of you. I would have told them no, but I did not want to risk straining the two sister tribes even further than they were in the past. This is why I have come to you."

I stood up; my hands were balled into fists at my sides, shaking in anger. My breathing was starting to becoming ragged, and I looked at him with my nostrils flared.

"Your people wish to force her into a marriage with some noblemen they have never met, with the intent of trying to come into an agreement of peace with us? We could offer to help them with resources, and trading agreements. Did they even ask her what she wants? Did they even take in her consideration?"

Hakoda turned to me quick and glared at me, "Do you think that I would just force her into something that she does not want to do? Of course I asked her, and she said she would be willing to do anything for her Tribe. The only reason they don't marry off some girl from their own tribe is because she may have been born in the Southern Tribe, but she was trained to be a master waterbender in the Northern Tribe. They believe they have some sort of entitlement to have contributed in the training in one of the greatest waterbenders in the world. They think that for her ability and art in waterbending that she is worth a lot of value and that she will be a great benefit to their cause of 'peace'. I only wish that she wasn't so stubborn, but she does not want to have any more war between the two nations or between the two tribes."

I looked over to Katara. She sat there, resolute, looking serious with her expressionless face.

"Katara, are you insane? What about your freedom, or your sense of pride? How can you just sit there looking like… well that? Why won't you stand up for your personal will, and how you won't let them tell you what to do? Where is the girl I knew a long time ago, who fought for what she believed in?"

Katara's head jerked up at the last question, and I could see the storm brewing within her deep blue eyes.

"That girl is gone; she grew up. I am doing what is good for my Tribe, and if that means I have to marry someone of your nation, then so be it. I am not going to sit here and listen to you tell me what to do. I do not care if you are the Fire Lord because you are not MY Lord, and in which case you have no authority over me. It is not until I marry a member of your nation, that I will bow down to you. Yet, until that day, I will only respect you by calling you by your true title, nothing else. I don't tolerate this kind of nonsense, especially from you. Now I will be going to my chambers, come Yori."


	8. Chapter 7

AN: Hey guys, there was some pretty ugly (oxymoron) stuff in that last chapter. I hoped you guys liked it though, so please review. Here's the next chapter, enjoy.

Chapter 7

Katara's POV

I walked out of that dining hall with all the anger that I had swelled inside of me. The guards outside of the door had heard me shouting at Zuko, and practically shrunk as I walked past them. I walked swiftly away from the men inside of the room, and I could hear Yori, trying her hardest to keep up with me.

"Lady Katara, if could please slow down, I may still be able to catch up with you, but I could faint from exhaustion at any given moment."

Slowing down my pace, I looked over at Yori, whose face was sweating profusely, "Sorry, Yori. I just wanted to get away from that hypocritical, cocky, ill tempered-"

"Whoa, calm down. You might blow up the whole place, if you keep on going like this with that bending of yours."

I smirked at what she was reminding me of the time that I masqueraded as the Painted Lady and blew up the factory. But I had a feeling that she was remembering that other time when I was angry, and the soup and beverages at dinner exploded from the bowls and cups and onto the councilmen.

"**Dad, does my mentor have to follow me everywhere I go batting my hand this way and that for every little thing? I am a master waterbender, I do not need to be treated like this."**

**Dad chuckled at my little rant, and said, "Now Katara, you may be a master waterbender, but you are also the Princess of the Water Tribe. It is part of who you are."**

"**Why do I have to do this? I didn't ask to be a princess."**

"**No, but you are my daughter, and like it or not you are a princess."**

"**Well then why do I have to learn all of these things? I didn't have to before the war."  
><strong>

**He looked at me dead in the eye and said, "You didn't have to because our tribe was not even considered of very big importance during the war after it was ambushed. At the time it was not necessary for you to learn about politics, but you had a rather good knack for them anyways. You are the only princess left of the two tribes, so they wished to have you taught in the ways, to give you a good education and a better foothold in politics."**

**My fists were shaking at my sides, "This is not fair, I don't want to have to learn all of this high society crap. I want to travel to other parts of the world, not be stuck here with some pompous stuck up woman, that keeps hitting me with a stick."**

"**Katara, you are going to learn on the duties and responsibilities of being a princess, whether you like it or not. I had no control over what you did with your little gang last year, but now that I am back, I expect you to respect my wishes, and right now it is for you to learn how to run this tribe."**

"**Why should I? You just said that you had no control over what I did whenever you left. You don't have any authority over my actions, Gran Gran does because she raised me whenever you left to go fight. You didn't write to us, and you never visited us."**

"**Is that what this is about? Leaving you here to be raised by Gran Gran. I left to protect our family; I left to fight for you. You can sit there and yell at me all you want, but I did what I did for you and your brother to be alive."**

"**I know and I am grateful for that, but-"**

"**No buts, Katara. You are going to learn and that is fin-"**

**My grip on my emotions released and all of the available water flew from where they were and into the faces of the councilmen eating dinner. They were too surprised to actually move, so when it happened they were drenched in sea prune stew and from what I could guess was alcohol.**

"**I guess I should go to my room now, right?"**

Dad went ballistic after I walked into the hallway, screaming curses to the wind, making me feel so bad for what I did. We had to replace all of the fur in the room, so that it didn't smell so badly of sea prunes. After that, I began to take all of my lessons seriously, and didn't make another fuss about the evil mentor.

"So that whole "pretending to be mad" plan didn't go so well did it?"

"**Yori what should I do when I see him? Should I smile or flirt whenever he talks to me? Or do you think that I should just act all shy?"****Yori gave me a look of utter shock and said, "In my day, whenever I was your age, a girl would make the guy work to talk to her."**"**Well, what should I do?"**

**Walking to the door, Yori opened it and looked out to see if anyone was near, then she quickly closed it and said, "You are going to do nothing. You don't let him have the satisfaction of talking to you. You hear? He needs to know that you are not like that puppet that he has for a fiancé, and that he settled for what was convenient for him."**

"**I hope that you are right."**

I looked at Yori with the most bewildered expression I could have mustered on my face in that moment.

"Are you kidding me? That's all that you care about right now? Of course it didn't work out to well, the guy is angry at me for doing what I need to do to save my tribe."

Yori looked down at her feet, as if she was ashamed for even asking the stupid question.

"And besides, I shouldn't be focused on this whole thing about Zuko. He has a country to run, and I will be getting married soon."

The discussion was put to rest, and we both waked down the halls to my room. Neither of us saw the lithe figure hiding in the shadows…


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Mai's POV

"Married… so the Water Tribe wench is getting married."

I walked out from where I was hidden in the dark hallway and headed to the Royal Chambers.

_Maybe now I can finally get rid of her, and have Zuko all to myself._

Zuko never knew, but I was always envious of that Water Tribe trash. He would talk in his sleep almost every single night, and just about every time he did, it was always about her. His constant talking would wake me up in the middle of the night, and I would have to listen to him giving a long, romantic speech, almost like as if he was talking to her in his dreams.

**My eyes snapped open all too quickly, and I looked over to where Zuko was lying, breathing softly. I smiled down at him and went to move over to get closer to him, snuggling into his warm body. **

**His body suddenly tensed, and I looked up at him, but his eyes were still closed. He then had scooped me closer to him, and a smile broke out on his face. I had never seen him smile like that before.**

"**Hmm… Katara…"**

**My body tensed inside of his strong hold, and he began to squeeze me tighter to him.**

**He sighed quietly and said, "Katara, don't go… I love you…You are…beautiful…Please don't go… Stay with me…"**

I had cried so hard that night, that he woke up, and asked me what was wrong. I wanted to so badly tell him to go to hell, but I couldn't risk losing him again. So I stayed in his arms, and told him that I had a nightmare.

All he did was sigh and held me to him, saying nothing, no kind words, no murmuring that it was okay, just silence.

It is like I am really living a nightmare…

* * *

><p>AN: Hey I am sorry about this chapter being so short, but I thought it was necessary to get a little bit more background information on Zuko and Mai. I didn't want to make Mai to be some cold-hearted b****, like I make her out to be sometimes, but I wanted to show that she is a victim in this. Thanks for reading, please review.<p> 


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Zuko's POV

_He is an arrogant fool, who has no right in doing this to his daughter._

"**My daughter is more than just some bargaining chip, and I know that what I am asking of her is wrong, but she knows and understands what she must do. She is willing to give up her life for her people. I do not like the fact that she was so willing, but I can't stop her from what she is going to do. Katara is the Princess of the Water Tribes, not just one over the other. She has duties to her people."**

**Steam blew out from my nostrils as I tried to calm myself, "I have always hated her hard-headedness when we were younger. I do not want your daughter any angrier with me, but I will look for another solution to this. I will try to fight for her freedom, even if you and she will not. Please I need to be alone, just leave."**

**The Chief and his right hand man walked out of the dining hall without another word. As soon as the doors were closed and their footprints were heard down the hall, I released an angry yell, and all of the available fire in the room, meaning the sconces, burned more brightly and fiercely.**

I sat in my room, trying to calm myself down. Mai was already asleep in the bed, and I didn't want her waking up to only interrogate me about the events after she had left, so I just hushed all of the lights in the room and lay down on the silk sheet bed.

My heart was pounding, and if I didn't have Mai in the room with me, I'm pretty sure that I would be breathing smoky fumes.

_Katara did not deserve to be treated as if she cannot make her own decisions. What was Hakoda thinking?_

I stared up at the canopy over the top of the bed. Red silk and satin drapes came up from the top at a tip and then hung down framing the outside of the bed onto four wooden beams overseeing the four corners of the bed. It wasn't but about five and a half years ago that I was traveling with Uncle throughout the Earth Kingdom, starving and depressed.

_Mai was also in the Earth Kingdom about then… _

I looked over to where Mai was lying, her eyes were puffy and red, and she had makeup running down her face. Her breathing was so quiet, but it was solidly even.

_I can't keep torturing her like this… I do still love her… She was the only one who helped me whenever I was in pain, or when I was in turmoil about my father._

My eyes began to feel heavy, and soon I was dreaming, dreaming of her… Katara…

_**She danced around me, circling around seductively, wearing colors of Fire Nation red. I went to grab her by the waist, but she only moved about, swinging her hips about to the music. **_

_**She suddenly shifted, and then she was standing still, balling her hands into fists on her hips. Her face was stern, and soon she was yelling at me.**_

"_**I can make my own decisions Zuko. You don't get to choose my life for me; I can take care of myself. I broke up with YOU remember?"**_

"_**But Katara, I love you…"  
><strong>_

"_**No I am tired of having to listen to you Zuko. You need to move on."**_

_**She walked away from me, and I went for her again, but only to have grabbed air because she disappeared. **_

"_**Move on Zuko. MOVE ON!"**_

I sat up straight in the bed, my heart was racing, and I felt like I was going to die. The dream felt too real, and I had to look around to make sure of where I was. Looking over to where Mai was, I saw that she was still asleep. I wasn't sure, but it felt like she was giving me the cold shoulder. The coldness in the room was overbearing, and I decided to go to the Palace Garden. It had always soothed me.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Katara's POV

Yue shined brightly against the inky black midnight sky, looking strong and beautiful. I don't know how she chose to give up her life and happiness without looking back too much. I knew that she loved my brother, but I also knew my brother loved her back, maybe even a little too much at the time.

"Yue, how did you do it? Why did you give up your life so easily? I know you loved my brother, but wouldn't that have been enough for you to stay? I know you did it to save the world, but I still don't understand. If you could answer me, it would be much appreciated."

I looked down over the expanse of the Palace Garden in front of me from my balcony window. Fire lilies bloomed all around, glowing under the luminescent shine coming from Yue. They were innocent and beautiful, reminding me of actual fire, with the breeze moving them about in a wave, a burning flame. The lilies also reminded me of Hama…

I still am a little weary when it comes to bloodbending, not having used the dark art ever since her spirit took control over my body and forced me to use it on Zuko.

"Uggg! Get out of my head!"

I snapped my head up; the words didn't even leave my mouth even though I was thinking the exact same thing. Someone was out here with me. Looking behind me, my room was empty and silent. All of the other rooms for the other sailors were further down the hall from me, so I knew it couldn't be them. Glancing back over the garden, I saw a shadowy lone figure sitting next to the pond, tearing the loaf of bread in his hand. Throwing each piece, he made sure that each of the newly awakened turtle ducks received some.

I walked up closer to the rail of the balcony; the coolness from the night could be felt from the thinness of the material of my nightgown. I gathered the front of my robe closer to me and held it there by crossing my arms.

The man near the pond was wearing a hood over his head, so I couldn't tell who he was. From what I could see, he appeared to be of higher quality by the way his cloak was designed in the Fire Nation red with gold trim. He was tired, obviously, by the way he slumped his body forward a bit.

He spoke without any restraint, making it easier for me to hear him.

"Why in Agni's name should I see her every night? She haunts me like an unwanted nightmare, coming to life. Her voice taunts me throughout countless night and days; her sweet and silky voice. Why must she be the one true nightmare? Why did it have to be her? I should not love her, but I do with all of my body and soul. She does say with compassion that she loves me as much as I do to her, but yet, she loves him as well, maybe even more. Why did the spirits make me fall in love with a girl, who is in love with another? I only ask them to please take pity on me, and to let me be. I-"

The man stopped when a rustle was heard in the bushes, and he ran from the pond. His face still remaining covered by the hood of his cloak, which was billowing from behind him. The night returned to its silent atmosphere in the garden, until another figure appeared from behind the bushes.

Zuko…

His long, raven hair was no longer in the typical up-do style of the Fire Nation, framing the strong bone structure of his face. He wore what seemed to be an elegant red silk robe and matching pants, no doubt believing that no one of any importance would see him outside in such a manor at this late of night. His chest and stomach were illuminated in the glow that Yue graciously gave, making him seem more handsome. His eyes were radiant, as he looked up to where my balcony was. I blushed horrified at him finding my little hiding spot, like a little child, embarrassed from sneaking his hand into the cookie jar.

"Katara," his voice sounded grave, as if it killed him to say it.

"Fire Lord Zuko," I addressed him.

"Katara, you don't have to do that whenever we are alone you know. No one can hear us."

"Fire Lord Zuko, I find it appropriate in the current situation and matter of things to address you by your proper title, for you are the higher rank of the two of us."

He stood there with his hands balled into fists on his sides, forcing waves of heat probably in his hands to release some inside tension.

"Very well then _Princess _Katara, as you wish."

"Thank you, your highness," my face felt like stone, unmoving and unchanging.

Placing my hands on the railing of the balcony, I looked around the visible parts of the garden for the man who was here before, but he wasn't there.

"What's wrong?" the façade of anger that was once on his face was now gone, with worry shining from his golden eyes.

"Nothing, your highness, I must be getting to bed," I responded harshly.

"No, wait! I want to ask you something."

I turned around and said, "Alright well, what would your question be?"

Nervously he said, "Well, it's more than one, but I just wanted to ask why you would give up your life so easily for people who obviously don't care for your freedom? Why would you let them force you into marrying someone you have never met for a negotiation? Why would you give up everything you had?"

I looked over at him, obviously getting at what he was hinting to me.

"You know what is the most ironic thing? I asked that question not too long ago, and you know what," pointing up at Yue, "she never answered me back. So why don't you ask her as to why she gave up her life and love to save her people. She clearly has a reason why, and I don't have any idea why. I bid you a goodnight, your highness."

"Yes, goodnight, my princess…"

I sighed greatly and heavily.

"Zuko…"


	12. Chapter 11

AN: This story is taking forever, but I will write to please my awesome readers and reviewers. You guys rule. I have decided to submit this story into its parts, so that you guys don't have to wait forever and will be able to be hooked onto this story. I know I don't like to wait. Oh and wait! Who do you think this mysterious cloaked romantic is? You will find out soon. Thanks again, please read and review.

Chapter 11

Mai's POV

After Zuko had left me in the room alone, I walked over to the window, forcing it open. The coolness of the night chilled me, and goosebumps formed along my arms, legs, and neck.

_He's going to that stupid garden. _

He went every single night whenever he woke up from a dream about her, leaving me with a cold bed for the rest of the night. That is until…

"What are you doing out here in the cold, my beautiful rose?" a voice whispered into my ear, making my knees feel like jelly.

Gripping my shoulders, he turned me around and pulled me close to his chest. The warmth of his body enveloped all around me, bringing a blush to my cheeks. His steel gray eyes flashed in the radiance of the moon. The paleness of his skin shone brightly against the darkness of the room.

"What are you doing here? You know he could come in here at any minute."

He chuckled, his laughter sending chills down my spine, "Oh, but you also know that doesn't. Besides he's a little busy."

My eyes had widened at his statement, "With who-"

"Now, now, don't worry your pretty little head. Just focus on one thing at a time, and don't worry about him. Worry about me and my poor lips. We're both dying without a kiss from your beautifully perfect lips."

I looked at him skeptically, "You are really cheesy, you know that?"

He laughed quietly, "Only when I am with such a gorgeous woman."

"Well then let's shut your lips up shall we?"

* * *

><p>Zuko's POV<p>

I sat in the garden after Katara left the balcony, shutting the glass doors to her room loudly. The moon made shadows across the well-kept grass.

_What did she mean by 'she'? _

When I looked up to the moon, I saw the faintest glimmer of a face, a girl's face. Her snow-white hair was as luminescent as the moon's ethereal glow, her skin flawless, and her eyes shone more brightly that it would put the sun to shame.

It couldn't be… The girl from the North Pole, Princess Yue…of the Northern Water Tribe, of course! Uncle told me of her sacrifice for the world and to save her people, Hakoda mentioned her as well earlier, but I never truly met her, or ever seen her face… until now…

Katara didn't truly want to marry any man that she did not choose, but rather she would for the safety of her own people. She will never turn her back on those who need her. She is willing to give up her own life for the people who want her to, just to ensure their safety.

She is truly braver than any other person in the world…

* * *

><p>Mai's POV<p>

My eyes were heavy and I felt whole and complete. I was wrapped in his embrace, listening to the sound of his heartbeat and breath, meshing into one. I traced my fingers on his chest with small circular patterns absent-mindedly.

I wish that things weren't like this… I can't keep hurting him. I love him too much to keep hiding him… I also don't want to hurt Zuko in the end…

"Are you having fun, my love?"

My eyes widened, and I looked up into his gray orbs.

"Well, as much as I can while thinking that Zuko is going to come barging through the doors."

Chuckling he said, "Do not worry about him, my love. The Fire Lord is too busy with his own nightmares to deal with. I am going to enjoy my time with you, while I still can."

Grasping his hand in mine, "I wish that we could be together forever."

"Well we could," he said with nervousness in his voice, "if you would be willing to run away with me. We could elope, and never to have to worry about anything ever again."

"No, I couldn't bear it if we were caught, and you were arrested, or worse."

With skepticism in his voice, "Are you sure that it's not because you still love him? More than me?"

"You know that's not true. I love you, and I only love Zuko in a different way. You are my true soul mate if it even exists, but Zuko was the first guy that I ever did love…"

He began to pull away from me, but not after I said, "But I love you now. I used to love Zuko in the romantic way, but now everything is different. I was young and I wanted to know what love was, and now I have found it. Zuko may have been my first love, but I want you to be my last, until the day I die. I just don't want to hurt him."

That was when he got up from the bed and began pulling on all of his clothes that were strewn across the floor. When he was finished, he got up and headed for the door. Finally, he stopped before he touched the doorknob and said, "The thing is, while you try not to hurt him, you end up hurting me instead. I can't just have a part of you. I want to be able to shout my love for you in front of the entire world, but because of your fear of hurting him, I can't. I am sorry, but I can't keep doing this anymore. I love you so much that it hurts me to see you with him. Goodbye Mai."

He pulled the open the door and shut it quietly, not looking back to see the tears that were streaming down my face.

"I love you…"


	13. Chapter 12

AN: I know that you guys are getting impatient with knowing who the mystery man is, but don't worry all will be revealed when you keep reading this last part of Part 1. Please read and review, thanks.

Chapter 12

Several Days Later…

Zuko's POV

Ever since that night in the garden, I have been thinking over the conversation that Katara and I had. She obviously did not love me anymore, and I need to forget her if what I had with Mai was going to work with us.

I was seated in the Royal Throne Room with all of the members of the Southern Water Tribe and Mai present as well. Hakoda was sitting at the very far end of the room from me, at the head like a true leader, with Katara on his left hand side, Bato on his right.

"Chief Hakoda, I have addressed you all here today to give you my consent for the arrangements you and your people have asked of me. Your daughter is of pure lineage to the Southern Water Tribe's Royal line, and I have seen how well-educated and mannered she has become over the years. She will make a fine bride for the nobleman I have chosen for her. He is well refined, and comes from a good family lineage. The man is well-educated and is well-known for the respect he has for women. He is a very respectable man, and I trust him very much. May I introduce you to Nobleman Zhong."

I motioned to my left side, where Zhong approached quietly, feeling Mai tense up rigidly at the mention of his name.

Hakoda rose from where he sat, and looked up and down Zhong.

"I am sorry to be rude Fire Lord, but may I ask as to how you know this young man?"

"Zhong has been a very close and personal friend whenever we were growing up. We never saw each other after my banishment, but we met up after I regained the throne. He is one of my best friends, after your son and the Avatar, of course."

"I see, well, young man? Are you sure you would be willingly to do this for the good of your nation?"

Walking back to my room form the Palace Gardens, I saw Zhong walking around through the many hallways.

"**Hey, Zhong, what are you doing up this late?"**

**He looked at me with this weird look on his face and said, "Oh you know, taking a stroll. What are you doing up this late? Fire Lord duties too much for you?"**

**Sighing, I said, "Just a little. I have to decide on what to do about this whole business with the Water Tribes."**

**He looked at me with this grave look on his face, "They aren't going to rebel against you, are they?"**

"**They might if I don't agree with what they want me to do."**

"**Well," he began, "what is it, if I may?"**

"**Right now I couldn't possibly care about the regulations. They want me to help create an arranged marriage that will aid with the bond of our two nations. They are willingly going to give their princess, without caring about her own happiness."**

**Blowing his raven hair from his face, he said, "Well, it sounds like to me, you are going to have to do what they ask. If you don't, they might join with the Rebels or at least help them unknowingly."**

"**It's not that simple though, she deserves to be happy. I will not stand there and just let them force her into something that she doesn't want. I can't."**

"**Wow. It sounds like you really care for this girl. Who is she?"**

"**She is the daughter of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, master waterbender, waterbending teacher of the Avatar, and the girl who broke my heart and tore it into a million pieces."**

"**Wait you're not talking about… What's her name? Katri… Katan… Katsu…"**

"**Katara," I said, rolling my eyes practically out of my head.**

"**Yeah her, that girl from the Earth Kingdom you kissed?"**

"**No, that's Jin. Katara is the girl who was under the cave with me in the Earth Kingdom who offered to get rid of my scar."**

"**Oh her… That may be a problem."**

**I groaned, "Don't remind me."**

"**What's her thoughts on the whole thing?"  
><strong>

"**She is demented, saying how she is willing to give up everything for her tribe and all that crap. How it is her duty. I mean, can you believe that?"**

**He was quiet for a long time, not saying anything and looking at the ground. Then he lifted his head up and said, "Yeah I kind of do. If anything, I would do exactly what she is doing if I had to. If my nation required me to, I would do about anything to protect her."**

**I stared at him for the longest time, and then finally I sighed heavily. **

"**Alright, I guess I am going to have to, but I have to choose her husband. I want someone who I know will take care of her and protect her. I want for her to be happy with who I choose. I need her for to be respected and honored by this man that I so choose, I need someone like yo-"**

**He looked up when I had stopped in the middle of my sentence and said, "Like whom?"  
><strong>

**I glanced over to him, "Like you… Zhong, I have known you since we were young. I know you are capable of taking care of her, and I trust her more with you than anyone I have ever known. Will you please do this not for me, but for the Fire Nation?"  
><strong>

**Waiting for his answer, I chewed on my lip and looked to where my feet were walking. Finally, I heard his voice, hollow and small saying, "Yes…"**

When I looked down at Zhong, he was smirking and said, his silvery-gray eyes flashing, "I will do whatever it takes to preserve my nation in its glory. If that means that I must willingly give up my chance to marry, than so be it. I intend on marrying your daughter to help the bond between the both of our nations. I will respect and honor her, like any woman should be."

Hakoda looked at him with a great respect for him. Turning around, the Chief motioned for Katara to come forward.

"Nobleman Zhong, I introduce to you my daughter and your fiancé, Princess Katara."

Zhong looked over to Katara, and bowed his head, reaching for her hand and kissing it, "It is a pleasure to meet you, my princess."

OOOO

Katara's POV

His voice sounds familiar…

Blushing, I said, "The pleasure is all mine."

His silver-gray eyes lingered on my face, and he finally released my hand.

Zuko coughed quietly and said, "Well then, I guess we have a wedding to prepare now?"

I looked up to where he sat on his throne. His eyes were somber and still, lifeless golden orbs. His entire body was slumped as he began to talk to my father about wedding coordinators and dates. The man who stood in front of me, Zhong was also looking up, but not at Zuko, rather at the person who was sitting beside him… At Mai…

Glancing up to where he was gazing, I saw the cold and hard steel eyes of Mai glaring at me.

What have I gotten myself into?

OOOO

AN: Thank you guys, I hope you like Part 1, and will stick around for Part 2. Sorry that this took so long, but I wanted it to be perfect. Please read and review.


	14. Chapter 13

AN: I do NOT own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Part 2

Chapter 13

Katara's POV

"Yori, stop messing with my hair! I don't think that I need to be overdressed for this, and I think that you are going to end up pulling out all of my hair before I can ever have kids!"

A split second after I said those words, she had whipped her head from where she was concentrated on one strand and gave me an apologetic smile.

"I am sorry Katara, but you are getting married soon, you have to impress your soon-to-be husband with all of your looks and charm. Remember he can break of this marriage in a quick second, making this entire treaty for peace disband, and soon the universe would explode all because you didn't have makeup on."

I rolled my eyes at her huge exaggeration, "Yeah right. If he is going to dump me for some dumb, illegitimate reason, he's got another thing coming."

Yori looked into my eyes through the mirror and gave me a quick squeeze around the shoulders, "That's my girl, now come on. You have to go meet your man."

"Yeah… My man…"

She helped me get up out of the chair I had to sit in, and we headed down the long corridors of the East Wing. I felt like I had twenty pounds of crap on my face and was wearing a dress that weighed two tons.

"**Don't slouch! You will look like a pack mule if you don't lift up your shoulders and make sure your head is poised correctly. Remember you are a princess!"**

I continued to hear that witch of a tutor in my head, her disgusting voice, laughing at me, and her giant mole growing bigger and bigger by the second. I shivered at the thought of that hairy thing, staring at me through all of the lessons, mocking me.

"My lady, are you quite all right? Do you require a coat or a wrap for your chill?" Yori said in her "proper Lady in Waiting" voice.

Shaking my head vigorously, I said, giving her a hinting look, "No! That is quite all-right Yori. In fact, I was just thinking. Do not go through the trouble of getting me something so trivial as another piece of clothing to wear. La knows that I am about to fall with all of this "beautiful" fabric on me."

Grasping what I said, Yori gave me a wink and said, "Yes, your highness. I understand completely."

Releasing a silent breath of anxiety, I went back to trying to find the room. It was quiet for the next ten minutes. I didn't want Yori to be scolded or frowned upon for talking to me in such a familiar way that a servant had no right.

Glancing around at all of the tapestries, I noticed a beautiful mural that was painted along one of the walls. There was a powder blue sky that sailed all the way to the spirit world, with what looked like the top of a mountain, peaking about one-third of the way into the sky. The clouds were adorned all around the mountain and in the sky, looking as though the whole thing was real, like as if it was actually flowing through the air. What really caught my eye though was what was in the sky…

Reaching from the left end of the hallway, there was a blue dragon that stretched to the middle meeting at the mountain's peak. The blue scales shimmered and danced with the light coming from the sconces overhead. Then looking back from the right end of the hallway, there was a red dragon that seemingly reflected the blue dragon as well. However, its red scales did not shimmer, but rather glowed in a fiery way, like candles in a dark room. The two dragons seemed to, I don't know float, like as if they were really flying in the sky. With my hand, I made to touch the blue dragon…

"Ahem… Katara?"

Blushing rather brightly, I held my hands together, and looked to the voice that had startled me. I saw Zuko standing a few meters away from Yori and I on the right side of the hall, looking at me with a rather amused expression.

"Yes, Fire Lord Zuko?"

Walking up to me in a sly manner, he said, "May I ask as to why you were going to touch an ancient artifact coming from my ancestors of thousands of years ago?"

If I didn't know it already, I felt beads of sweat rolling down my face.

"I was just admiring the work and craftsmanship. Well, now I best be off to do some other things. Good evening to you Fire Lord."

"No wait, where are you going?"

Feeling a bit of anger, I whipped my head around and stared into his molten eyes, "That does not concern you, My Lord."

Looking as though he was taken back by my sharp words, he said with an equal amount of anger, "If you are in MY palace, then I have a right to know what you are doing."

"Oh please!" I said with my hands firmly placed on my hips, "Like you could tell me what everyone in the whole palace was doing."

"I can."

I glared at him indignantly, "Oh yeah? Well, where are my father and the tribesmen?"

Smirking, he replied, "They are currently in the dining room, eating what I think your people call ocean cumquats."

"Sea prunes, how did they manage to eat that here, it's only common in the Water Tribes?"

"One of the men aboard your ship brought the prunes, begged for our chef to make it, and taught her how."

"Oh, okay then," feeling a little dejected, "Well, what about Lady Mai? Why is she not with you?"

Looking rather frustrated with my persistence, he said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "She is upstairs in our room, sharpening her stilettos. She told me that she would be down after she is done sharpening all of her knives."

"Oh, and how long will that take?"

"Considering she is very careful with her knives, thinking that the slightest bit of dirt will make her aim off, she had to make sure that they are REALLY clean. Each blade takes about five minutes and she has twenty, making her take about one hour and forty minutes of pure knife cleaning."

* * *

><p>Mai's POV<p>

As soon as Zuko had walked right out of the door and down the hall, I threw the stiletto in my hand right at the door. The sharp "twang" it made as it hit the wood was sweet.

"I sure do hope that you don't really mean to kill the Fire Lord, now do you?"

Feeling a sudden chill in my body, I turned around to see Zhong standing a few feet behind me.

"How did you get in here?"

Smirking his devilish trademark smirk, he said, "I have my ways. Now, what's wrong?"

Feeling flustered by his dismissal of my question, I asked with more anger in my voice, "What do you want?"

Sighing and looking down at the floor, "I only wanted to explain myself before you go killing Katara or Zuko."

"Don't mention that slut's name to me!"

"Alright! Alright!" he exclaimed raising his hands, feigning innocent, "Yeesh! I just wanted to say that I am sorry that you had to find out about my engagement like that from Zuko. It's just that when he asked me to, I couldn't say no. He is my best friend, and I had been sleeping with his fiancé for about three years now, feeling guilty because I was stabbing his back. Don't you think he would of thought something was going on if I didn't say 'yes'?"

Lifting my arms to place my hands on my head, I screeched, "I don't know, but still you could of said no."

Taking a few steps up to me, he pressed his palm on my right cheek, and said softly, "I could have said no. Yes, I could have been here, not arguing with you but kissing you senselessly and make love to you. I could have been here with you while your fiancé is out, Agni knows where, and have him never know of our little affair. Then one day, when Zuko finally realizes he loves you more than Ka-, I mean, the Princess, you would have left me forever to have this broken heart, while you get what you have always wanted Zuko's love."

Tears began to sting my eyes, "You have no idea of what you are talking about. I don't want Zuko's love. I only want you, Zhong. I wish that we could run away together, but I can't do that to Zuko, and you know it. You couldn't bear losing your best friend either. I don't want you to risk your life or happiness just for me."

"You ARE my happiness, Mai. Even though you may just about hate everything in the world, I love that about you. Mai, you are my life; I only wish that I was the same to you."

"Why can't you look past your stupidity to see that you are?"

His face was cast in a shadow, "I don't know if I can believe you."

With both of my hands on either side of his face, I pulled him to look directly at me and kissed him with all of the passion and love I could muster.

Pulling away from him, I saw his goofy facial expression and said, "Now do you believe me?"

Shaking himself out of it, he stared at me and said, "I don't know you may have to convince me a little more."

Laughing at his poor attempt of flirting, "Only because I love you so much."

Smiling, he grabbed at my waist, "Good, I love you too."

"Do you have to go anywhere?"

"Dinner, I have to go to dinner with the Princess."

Groaning, I walked away from his hold and crossed my arms.

"I do have time right now for you though. If I didn't have to go, I wouldn't, but unfortunately this is my duty."

Looking back at him, I said, "Well your duty sucks. Please just stay with me for this one time. I could send a servant telling Zuko that I do not feel well, and you could go back to your room and do the same with the slut."

"Sometimes you are too smart for your own good."

"I know, now go to your room, quickly. When you are finished, go to our little hideaway and there will be a special present there for you."

"Is that a promise?"

"Yes, now go."

He grinned widely, and then kissed me to the point where I felt light-headed. I didn't see him leave the room.

"Shit! How does he do that?"

* * *

><p>Katara's POV<p>

Zuko is really good at keeping tabs with everyone in the palace, telling me where all the guards, cooks, and servants were at the present time and place.

"How do you know about everyone here?"

Giving me a casual shrug, he said, "I have been keeping up with their personal lives, getting to know each one of them. If they have a problem, then I know about it. I try to help them with they need, and make sure that they are okay. I also happen to trust every single one of these people because all of the ones who only followed my father were given jobs outside of the palace in the case that they try to kill me."

"Hmph! Well, then where is Zhong?"

He gave me a very steely look when I asked, and then asked back with something I couldn't quite identify, "Why would you want to know?"

I raised my eyebrow at him and shot him a look.

With tight lips, he muttered so softly that I couldn't hear.

"What was that?"

He sighed gravely and said, "I don't know."

I danced around, my skirts floating around me, "Ha! I knew it. You didn't know where someone was, and your best friend to boot. Ha yes!"

I didn't notice when two servants came up from behind me and whispered something to Yori; I was too happy.

* * *

><p>Yori's POV<p>

I was holding back a huge roll of laughter that wanted to erupt from my lips.

Katara sure does love to outsmart the Fire Lord.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and upon turning around, I saw two young girls standing there. They were both servant girls, I could tell that much, scared too no doubt from the spectacle behind me.

"Yes?"

The taller one of the two stepped forward. She was thin with the blackest of hair and hazel nut eyes, not a bender, but of the Fire Nation ancestry.

"We came with messages from Lady Mai and Nobleman Zhong for Fire Lord Zuko and Princess Katara."

Giving her a warm smile, I said, "If you would not mind relaying the message to me, I will be happy to give it to them when they are finished with their "discussion"."

Nodding, she told me the excuses of both of the quarrelers' betrothed and scurried along with the other girl down the other end of the hall and around the corner.

Turning back around to the other two, I noticed that Katara looked rather indignant, while the Fire Lord was quite smug.

Katara took me by the arm with her nose stuck up high in the air, and forced me to walk with her in the direction we were originally heading in for Nobleman Zhong's dinner with us.

"Come, let us go Yori. I should not want to keep my fiancé waiting, and neither would the Fire Lord."

Clearing my throat, I said rather loudly for both to hear, "Yes, well it would seem that the both of your fiancés are not feeling very well, and asked that the both of you go along without them to dinner."

Katara stopped in mid-step with me, and then turned to look at me dead in the eye, "Well, I suppose that would be fine. I guess we will go find my father and have dinner with him and the men."

The Fire Lord walked over to us quickly and said in haste, "You both could have dinner with me. I would only hope that you would not mind me being the only company to talk to though."

I nudged Katara as hard as I could in the ribs for her to get the clue that I wanted her to go to dinner with him.

"*Cough* Yes, we would love to go to dinner with you."

"Actually," I began, "I am quite tired. If my lady will not mind, I would like to proceed to bed for the night?"

If looks could kill, I would be stabbed, drowned, burned, and then buried by now with the look that Katara was giving me right now.

"Of course not. You need your sleep, maybe I should come with you."

"Oh no I would not want to ruin your night. Enjoy the evening with the Fire Lord. Goodnight, my Lord and Lady!"

The last thing that I heard as I was walking swiftly down the hall, containing my laughter, was, "You know if she was the lady in waiting for anyone else, they would have dismissed her by now?"

"I know… The thought of it has been rather appealing to me lately."


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Zuko's POV

Watching Yori walk down the long hallway, reminded me of the many travels I had with Uncle and the many times he would intrude or barge in on my life…

I was balancing a tray of empty cups when I saw her sitting there in the far corner of the room. Quickly recognizing her, I hurried over to my uncle.

"**Uncle, we have a problem. One of the customers is onto us."**

**Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that she wasn't looking over at us. **

"**Don't look now, but there's a girl over there at the corner table. She knows we're Fire Nation."**

**Uncle, completely disregarding what I had said, looked anyways over at the little spy. **

**Grabbing him by the arm, I made him look back over at the counter we were standing at, "Didn't I say don't look?"**

**Uncle chuckled, "You are right Zuko. I've seen that girl in here quite a lot. Seems to me she has quite a little crush on you."**

**I dropped my jaw at his little comment and elbow nudge, "What?"  
><strong>

**A quiet voice interrupted us though before Uncle could clarify what he was accusing, "Thank you for the tea."**

**Turning around I gathered the money that she had placed on the counter and placed it in the drawer the shop keeper places the money, "What's your name?" she asked.**

**Spinning back to the girl, I answered hastily, "My name's Lee. My uncle and I just moved here."**

**Looking from between Uncle and I, she said, "Hi Lee, my name is Jin. Thank you… And, well, I was wondering if you would like to go out sometime?"**

**Before I could ever say 'no' to the girl, Uncle cut me off by saying, "He'd love to!"**

**Quickly she said, "Great! I'll meet you in front of the shop at sundown," and was gone out the door.**

**I glared at Uncle the entire time that we were at the shop…**

Looking back over to where Katara stood, I could tell that she was seething in anger at Yori's disappearing figure.

"Shall we go off to dinner?"

Katara seemed to have heard me because she straightened out herself and her skirt, sticking her nose up high in the air.

"I guess we must," she began before looking over at me with a sly glance, "Unless of course if you do not wish to."

Taking her challenge, I said with my chest puffed out, "Not at all. If I may?" I motioned to have her take my arm.

Sighing heavily, she said, "Yes alright."

* * *

><p>Katara's POV<p>

_I am going to kill you Yori!_

Zuko and I did not speak for the next thirty minutes, and I could feel the tension so thick in the air, that you could cut it with a dinner knife. I looked around at the room that we were in. Red banners hung along the ceiling all the way leading up to one of the walls, where there was a large Fire Nation banner. Like all the traditional banners this one held the Fire Nation insignia, but unlike all others, the edges of the flame symbol there was a slight golden trim along the edge, very light, but if you had a good eye for fabric you could see it. Glancing back at the banner, I noticed that instead of a solid black that only muted the color of the light, the entire flame almost looked as if was living. It moved beautifully through the flickers of the candles along the walls, like a flame.

"There is a golden sheer fabric on the banner, making the whole thing glow. It's supposed to resemble something like an undying flame the Fire Nation has within each person or, like what each Fire Lord says, is the fire that burns through each son of Agni."

Ducking my head for being caught staring, I said, "Well, it is beautiful. We have something to the effect of recognizing our cultural background, like you do. There is this water tribe symbol in front of the palace that we build, and instead of it being normal snow, the symbol is made of water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. This is to honor the glorious Princess Yue and her sacrifice to her people. There is only enough water for the symbol, so the ice is very thin. This makes a sort of bright glow whenever the moon, Yue, is high in the sky at its fullest."

Looking up over to Zuko to see his reaction, I saw that he had this soft look on his face, and I couldn't help but feel a weird sensation in my stomach, making me squirm under his gaze. He probably saw this because then he tore his gaze and cleared his throat, looking back down to his dinner. We sat in silence for about five minutes longer when Zuko got this weird look on his face.

Turning to where I was seated, he asked, "The water you just said right now, was that the water you were talking about before? The day we were imprisoned together?"

Curious as to why he was asking, I said, "Yes, um, the water had special healing properties, and it saved Aang when he was shot with your sister's lightning."

Seeming a little morose when I had said this, Zuko nodded and then whispered so that I could only hear what he was saying, "I am so sorry for what I did to you, all of you. I-"

"Zuko," I cut him off rather curtly, "What's done is done. You do not need to apologize anymore. You have been sorry for nearly your entire life. Why don't you just for once accept the fact that everyone has already forgiven you?"

"Not everyone has actually…"

Throwing my hands up in the air, I said frustrated, "Who hasn't forgiven you? Your uncle? That one I helped you with. Aang? He forgave you and let you teach him Firebending. Sokka already forgave you and you let him make fun of you since day one by letting him call you 'jerkbender'. Toph is the same as Sokka, except you carried her on your back whenever you burned her feet. Suki was angry at first, but then you helped her with her escape from Boiling Rock. And Mai? Oh my La, the two of you are getting married. Who on planet Earth could not have forgiven you by now?"

He stared right back at me, arching his brow as if I was an idiot.

"What? You think that I haven't forgiven you? Zuko, I have already forgiven you for everything, except in this moment where you are making me very pissed off. You don't need to apologize for anything!"

He got up out of his seat angrily; steam was rolling off of his body, making my face feel warm from the heat wave. His eyes were fierce and penetrating, and I could see molten lava flowing rapidly in those golden orbs. A vein popped out on his forehead and his muscles were strained along his neck.

"Then why on Earth would you have broken off what we barely had started? You ruined my entire life when you did, and now you act like you did nothing at all to hurt me. Do you know what you are doing to me? When I see you walking down these halls with that angry look on your face, I think that I did something wrong, but I didn't do anything at all. Why can't you get out of my head? I am hurting Mai every single night I leave her bed because I have another nightmare. AND IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU! Then, oh wait, that's not all. Your father comes in here demanding me that I give you a husband, or he will disband from our Peace Treaty, and you act like you want to do it. Why would you do that to yourself, and don't give me that 'it's my duty as a Princess' crap because I know that the only reason why you would be doing it is to hurt me. Well why don't you get over yourself and leave me the Hell alone!"

* * *

><p>Zuko's POV<p>

My core temperature was rising drastically, and I could feel the pain in my abdomen again. I was breathing ragged and knew that I needed to calm down. Looking down at the table, I began to feel the heat coming from each one of the candles in the room, and I began to concentrate on only making them bend to my will.

_In. Out. In. Out._

While I was breathing, I began to hear the faintest sound of a sniffle. Glancing up, I saw that there was tears running down Katara's face, making her look so fragile, so broken. I wanted to go up and hold her in my arms, never letting go of her, but I couldn't.

"Do you really think that I actually meant to hurt you like this? Do you think that I haven't been hurt as well by my own actions? I know this whole thing isn't your fault, but mine, as usual. Katara screwed up again! I wanted to protect you from whatever crap was going to happen if we happened to be married or have children. I didn't want my kids to grow up hated by his or her family because of political differences. Zuko, I didn't want your council to overthrow you or anything because you had a 'savage' for a wife."

As she said this, she continuously threw her arms around, making the tea in the cups around her slosh about. Yet when she had finished the final word, she turned on her heal and ran as fast as her skirts would permit her to out of the room.

_I am an idiot… _


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Zuko's POV

After about five minutes of standing there like an idiot, staring at the door being closed, I began running right on after her. I knew that her skirt would possibly hinder her from getting very far, so I tried to speed up, and catch her as quick as I could before anyone saw us. Pretty soon I could hear the sounds of someone running, but I didn't expect them to be running toward me…

"Oomph!"

"Arrgh!"

Glaring over to the person sitting across from me on the floor, I saw that it was one of my councilmen. He was one of my most trustworthy men that had been here as a friend of Uncle's to help keep watch over me. I had known Xueyou since I was about five years old, and I looked up to him as a sort of grandfather, which if you really thought about it was kind of funny considering Uncle was a few years older than him. Yet, the only reason was because Fire Lord Azulon didn't really see me as anything really with my father always pushing Azula right in front of my path…

Picking myself quickly up off of the floor, I went over to the kind man and lifted him, luckily he slighter than Uncle was during the beginning of our travels.

"Oh, I do so sincerely apologize Fire Lord Zuko."

Chuckling at his use of protocol, I said, "Xueyou, you have known me since forever, you don't have to call me that."

Smirking, "As you wish my Lord, there have been three messages sent to the palace, regarding to your and Nobleman Zhong's weddings. I have placed them in your office."

Sighing and looking over to the far end of the hallway that would contain Katara's room, I glanced back over to the old man, and bade him to follow me to my office.

Katara…

* * *

><p>Zhong's POV<p>

I collapsed onto the bed next to her, panting. Her raven hair was splayed across the bed, disarrayed from the usual two buns on her head held by senbons. I made sure that those and her usual weapons were off of her before doing anything. Her luminescent skin shone brightly with the candlelight dancing on the layer of sweat on her chest and body. Her breathing was kind of ragged and I could see that she was getting very tired.

Her eyes looked over at me, and then she began to smile. Knowing Mai, it was rare to ever see a smile come out of her stony features, but I always seem to manage seeing that bright genuine smile.

"Hey."

She rolled her eyes in a joking way, "Hey, yourself."

She flipped her self over so that she was half way on top of me with her arms folded under her chin on my chest, staring down into my eyes.

Looking into her eyes, I could see that she was mulling over something in her head, "What's wrong?"

"Oh! Nothing."

"Yeah right, seriously, what are you thinking about?"

Sighing, "I was imagining my life with you, where we could be together every single day, without any regrets and we can have children running around in a little garden of our house. I was thinking about having true happiness, and not some ongoing nightmare about not being with you every single day of our lives."

"So, in your dreams we have a house with kids?"

"Well, I don't know really I guess. I always kind of thought that I would ruin my kids' lives by being there mother, seeing as how my mother raised me to be, but I don't know. I guess, having you next to me would make it better than what I imagine it to be."

"Well, I don't know about that part about me, but I do know that you are more than capable in being a mother, more so than your own. You are kind, beautiful, and intelligent, and any child would be lucky to be your son or daughter."

"Thanks, but I couldn't be anything without you."

I smirked to that, "Why thank you and the same goes for you."

"How romantic of you."

"It's what I do. It's what I do."

* * *

><p>Zuko's POV<p>

Uncle is coming… Uncle is coming… to help plan my wedding…

Rereading the letter over and over again, I looked at the inexplicably familiar handwriting until I am pretty sure that I could forge any document with his signature.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Nephew,<em>

_Ah, I have heard many things coming from Xueyou about the current wedding ceremonies that are soon to happen. Now, I do believe that yours is one of the main priorities, if I am correct? Zuko, I can't help but think that you should not be pushing this marriage at any later of a date. I know that the council members are trying to persuade you to get married already, but honestly nephew, I think that it would be better to set a date already, so I am coming to help you with the planning. I will be there in about a week or so._

_As for Princess Katara and Nobleman Zhong's wedding, I do hope for the best in their marriage. Agni knows that I have witnessed the worst part of an arranged marriage. _

_Love, Uncle_

* * *

><p>I couldn't contemplate the meaning of the last sentence any further because soon Xueyou was soon then forcing another letter in my face for reading, Agni please save me.<p>

Glancing over the letter, I noticed the fan symbol of Kyoshi imprinted on the outside of the letter. _Sokka and Suki?_

* * *

><p><em><span>Dear Jerk Bender,<span>_

_So I heard that my sister is getting married from this cabbage guy, who works at the market place on the mainland. Why didn't anyone tell me about this? I am Katara's brother, so why did I have to hear about this wedding from some freak with a lettuce fetish? Do I mean nothing to you people anymore or what?_

_Don't tell Dad, but I am coming over there to give you people a piece of my mind. How dare you, Zuko, you of all people, choose my baby sister's husband like that. What if he hits her, or worse uses her for his own selfish pleasures? _

_I can't very well leave Suki alone, so she is going to come with me, and then I will personally tell you and the whole council off._

_Sokka_

_Oh and Suki says hi._

* * *

><p>I know that the universe hates me now, but does it have to happen right now at this very moment. I don't need to deal with all of this crap, I am the frickin' Fire Lord, I mean come on. All of this stuff should be handled, I don't know by my advisors or councilmen. Anyways, I continued to go over all of this stuff in my head until Xueyou coughed rather impatiently and handed me another letter. This one, however, was from the Earth Kingdom.<p>

* * *

><p><em><span>Dear Fire Lord Zuko,<span>_

_Overseeing all of the newly redone peace treaties with the Earth Kingdom, we have not noticed anything wrong within the homes and communities of each Earth Kingdom city with their Fire Nation neighbors. In fact, both sides seem to be bonding in a sort of way with it._

_Toph and I intend to come to the Fire Nation very soon to discuss some other "matters" with you, matters that could "reveal your own destiny."_

_Avatar Aang_

* * *

><p><em>What does he mean by that?<em>


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Zuko's POV

I don't know how long I have been sitting there reading and rereading that letter over and over again, but I still wound up clueless. Looking over to Xueyou, he had this large smirk to his face, like he was in on the biggest scam of the world, or like he knew that if I opened my desk drawer, a fruit pie would just spring in my face.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing…"

Getting really annoyed by this point, I turned my eyes back to the letter, and said, "Do you possibly know what this means? What he is saying because I have no clue?"

If his face could be any smugger than what it held right now, I would be worried that his ego was so big and how it hadn't crushed him by now, "Ah, in due time My Lord, I believe that, as a dragon knows when to hatch from its egg, in due time, you will know exactly what to do."

Glaring back at the man, "You know I really do get annoyed when you and Uncle avoid the question by using one of your proverbs?"

Smiling, "Ah yes, but it is that annoyance at our proverbs, that we at least know that you are still listening to us."

I had to roll my eyes at that, but it was true, I did listen and hang to nearly every word these old men would tell me. I know that Uncle appreciates it, especially after everything that had happened with Azula and Ozai, but the thing is, as much as it was the whole routine, it gets a little old, I did appreciate the fact that Uncle cares enough about me to mentor me. He was much more of a father than Ozai, and I could never repay him for that.

* * *

><p>Katara's POV<p>

I kept pushing through all of the skirts, trying to run as fast I could from him. My hair by now was flying all over the place, and I knew that my makeup was probably streaming down my face in ribbons of blue, black, and red.

_Oh great! I am the punch line to that stupid ass joke._

You would think that as a water bender I should be able to stop myself from crying all over myself, but I don't think that that is going to be happening very soon for me. However, when I heard voices coming down from the way I was running, it was like something snapped inside of me, and my crying immediately stopped. Listening to see who it was, I could tell that the voices from down the hall were some of the tribesmen I traveled with.

Panic-stricken fear grew inside of me, and I looked around for some way to avoid them. I almost went the opposite way that I came, but I remembered why I went down this way in the first place. Dread overcame me as I pressed myself against the wall, wishing that somehow I could blend in a red wall with this blue dress.

Suddenly, a sense of vertigo overcame me, and I felt like I was falling down into the deepest black abyss, only to be seized and enclosed within its grasp.

* * *

><p>Unknown POV<p>

Steam thickened the air within the tent. Darkness overhangs the small space, except in the center where I was sitting with a few candles. The tent flap behind me whipped open and the barest semblance of light from the moon shone into the tent.

"Sir, according to one of our sources there seems to be another wedding due in the process of the Fire Nation. A sort of treaty with the Water Tribes, by way of using their princess in an arranged marriage."

I looked over at the young lieutenant, "Is that all?"

"Yes, sir."

"A treaty… The Fire Nation has truly fallen since that no-good, snot nosed brat took the throne from Fire Lord Ozai. Very well, how long do we have until the wedding date?"

"We are not currently aware of this information yet sir. It seems that the current Fire Lord was a little reluctant to bind the two nations with a treaty by marriage."

I raised my eyebrow, "Oh?"

"Yes sir, it seems that the Fire Lord did not approve in marrying off the princess to one of the Fire Nation noblemen."

"Why?"

The boy gulped, "It seems that the princess and the young Fire Lord were traveling together as friends and allies of the Avatar as his Fire and Water bending teachers."

I was getting rather testy, "So?"

"I don't know sir. They never told me. Maybe they are too good of friends?"

The boy was obviously scared by this point, shaking in his boots, "Get out of my site!"

He ran from the tent, and the candle flames were billowing from the change of the air.

_Why would he not want a treaty for peace?_


	18. Chapter 17

AN: I am so sorry that this is taking me to dang long for you guys. At first I just lost all faith for this story, but once again, I am regaining my faith. My life has been through a whole lot of crap, and my emotions have been through a giant roller coaster. I have also been working with on Fiction Press with some other story ideas at the same time, so my mind hasn't been all here or all there. I apologize for whether or not this is pure crap, and if you do not approve of it, but I do hope that you guys like this. If you guys would like to read my Fiction Press story, my username is TrueRebellion14 and my story is called, "Here is Where the Ends Meet". Thanks you guys for staying with me on this.

Chapter 17

Katara's POV

The air was dusty and I could not see absolutely a thing with the amount of darkness that was in the room. Feeling around the room, I could feel that three walls surrounded me on my left, back, and right. To my front, I could sense that there was a free space, and I walked toward it. As I continued walking (more like stumbling) my way down the passageway, I suddenly felt my foot stubbing a rise in the stairs.

"Damn it!"

Feeling around me as much as I could, I could tell that the whole thing led to a staircase. With my foot, numb, I carefully made my way up the staircase, and when I saw a sudden glow above me, I began walking faster and faster toward the light, until suddenly there were no more steps and I was soon falling flat on my face.

Glancing around at my surroundings, I saw that there was a torch sitting in a fixture along the wall, but that it was the only one down the hallway. Feeling my way around the wall, I looked to see if there was another way out of the dark passage. It wasn't until I heard the sound of a click that the wall moved a bit. Looking up, I saw that by pressing all of my weight on the panel the door opened, so I continued to push the wall bit by bit, until finally there was enough space for me to climb into the next room.

Searching around the also very dark room for a door, I saw the shimmer of a window with the curtains moving, closed from the moonlight, grabbing the two pieces of fabric, I pulled them apart, and saw Yue was glowing exceptionally bright tonight, even if she was slightly smaller tonight.

The room was small, and I could see that there were three doors in the room, but both were unable to distinguish as to whether or not if it led out or not. Picking the one closer to me, I grabbed onto the door handle and pulled onto the heavy door with all of my might.

What I saw, I would never be able to stop myself form seeing ever again…

* * *

><p>Zhong's POV<p>

Mai was just so beautiful in this very moment, I mean, not that she isn't beautiful every single day, but right now, she just looks so…peaceful. She doesn't have any worries right now as she is sleeping, and I can't help but feel guilty that she can't feel like that every single day of her life, with me. Glancing around the room, I look at all of the clothes that are just strewn across the floor in our haste to be together, and I lightly chuckle.

Closing my eyes, I fiddle with her silky, raven hair and begin to try falling asleep.

"CLICK! CLICK! BUMP!"

My eyes snapped opened, and I would have jumped from the bed if Mai wasn't wrapped around me right now, but I feel her tense up, and she looks up at me.

"What was that?"

"I don't know, but wait right here."

Getting up from the bed, I pull on a pair of my lighter pants, and went over to the door. Mai was pulling the covers over her chest. Walking quietly over to the door, I listened for any sudden noise, but I couldn't hear anything. Looking back over to Mai, I gestured for her to be quiet, and I pushed open the door, getting into a quick stance.

Looking around the room, I couldn't see anything, it wasn't until I heard a shifting, that I blasted the person with fire, and I heard a scream.

* * *

><p>Katara's POV<p>

Old wrappings hung around the entire room, dry and ugly, I wanted to vomit everywhere, but apparently someone did that a long time ago way before me. The whole place smelled disgusting, and I couldn't stand it anymore.

_I bet Zuko doesn't know about this._

Closing the door, it made a sort of banging noise, and pretty soon I was looking at the next two doors, deciding on which to open next. Looking back to the door I just opened, I decided to go with the one on the farthest side rather than right next to the bathroom door. Grasping the handle, I held my breath, but before I could pull the door that I never opened swung open, and all I could see was a blast of fire and also I heard a scream echoing through the air.

* * *

><p>AN 2: So anyways thanks you guys for everything, I will be continuing on with my story, and I do hope that you will like it. Please review!<p> 


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Katara's POV

Stars blurred my vision, and pretty soon I had crumpled to the floor like a doll. As I tried to move around, pain flashed along my right side, and I moaned in pain. I heard shifting from above me, and I could tell that someone was standing above me. The person took me up by the arm and I screamed in pain then nearly dropping me, they held a flame to my face and when they saw who I was, they gasped like as if touching me burned them (ironic). The heat of the flame caused sweat to drip down my face, and I could feel their stare, but the pain was too much for me to keep my eyes open long enough for me to see whom it was.

Then I heard him (it was obviously a man) talking to someone in the room he had burst from. From what I could tell it was a girl, and then when she walked into the room, my suspicions were definitely confirmed then.

They whispered to each other hurriedly, and pretty soon the girl went into the other room, and was back out in two minutes. Soon, the man was carrying me into the room that they were in and laid me on top of the uncovered bed. Judging from the way these two acted, I was glad that they did that before laying me on the bed that they were just on.

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know, but we can't leave her like this, these burns need to be treated immediately."

"How on Earth do you plan on explaining that to anyone? They are going to send us to jail for hurting the princess of the frickin' South Pole, the sole heiress to the throne."

"Don't you think I don't know that, but what are we going to do, she can't exactly die in here, then we could be sentenced for murder?"

Trying to force my eyes to open, I took in my surroundings, and saw two steely gray eyes staring right at me. Then with all of the power I had inside of me, I said, "I can heal myself if I had some water…"

* * *

><p>Mai's POV<p>

I looked down at the slut lying down on the bed before me.

If she tells Zuko about us, then we are doomed. We can't let her just run off telling this to anyone we have to make sure that she won't tell a soul.

"Nice try, wench. But if we let you use water, you would just heal yourself and then run out of the room crying to Zuko about this whole thing."

Zhong looked at me with widened eyes, but then it hardened, and I could tell that he understood at what I was getting at with what I was saying: if we let her go, this whole thing will blow up on us.

The girl squirmed under the amount of pain she was in from the burn, and said, "I won't tell anyone please just let me have some water."

"I don't trust you."

She groaned and grimaced at me, but I honestly did not care about this little slut. She deserves to hurt after what she has forced me to do to be happy.

"I-I can't tell him because if I do…then the entire treaty with the Water Tribe and the Fire Nation will be broken, and it might lead into an all out war between the nations again."

I scoffed, "Do you really think that a war is going to start just because of your little relationship problems with your fiancé and the Fire Lord? That is so pitiful."

"No…but your little affair with MY fiancé might in fact lead to the breaking point of any chance that you have at having a relationship that might make you happy."

I glared at her, "Do you honestly believe that you have any chance at making a threat? You are the one that's life is hanging in the balance right now. I mean, come on, seriously?"

"Mai!"

* * *

><p>Zhong's POV<p>

She looked at me with a wild look in her eye, "Shut up! You know she is going to tell someone!"

"Yeah, I know that, but I also know that if we don't get that treated right now she may in fact die right here, and we did nothing to save her!"

I walked over to the nearest vase that held fire lilies in it, and came back over to the bed. Guiding Katara's hand to the vase, I watched as her hands glowed a bright incandescent blue. The whole thing was mesmerizing, and soon she was moving steadily to her right side, but before she could, Mai had knocked her hand out of the way, seething with anger.

"Don't help her!"

I was raging in anger by then, "Then what do you want me to do, let her die?"

She stood quiet and didn't answer me.

"Well, is that what you want for her to die?"

Silence.

"What the fuck do you want?"

She snapped, "I want her to pay for what she took away from me! I want her to feel the way I did when I found out that some insignificant slut took the one that I love from me. I want her to know what it is like to feel like she has lost something so precious to her that the world has fallen right from underneath where she stands. And as much as I hate to admit it, but this does not come even close to how I feel every single day, but it comes in as a close second."

I felt my heart sank as I watch her continuously rant about how she felt.

She doesn't really love me… I am nothing but a replacement Zuko to her… Just another thing that can keep her mind off of the way that he has treated her…

Moving away from the bed, I looked around the room for my clothes, and then after spotting each article, I began to dress. Then without any emotion whatsoever in my movements, I crossed the room and picked up Katara, and took her to the bathroom, closing the door behind me from the shrieking Mai.

Glancing around the disgusting bathroom, I remember each scene in my head as to what happened.

**Doctors and nurses hurried into the room, looking over at all of the blood and vomit everywhere. I came in right behind Zuko, glancing over at the corpse inside of the bathtub. Her raven hair was drenched in her own blood, and her crazed golden eyes were staring right at us, daring us to come in. The beautiful girl lay naked in the pool of her own blood that came from the cuts and burns she gave herself with her bending and the glass shards that came from the mirror. **

**Zuko began vomiting at the mere sight of the young woman, and he began crying for her. **

**The little girl that I remembered kept flashing through my mind as I wondered as to how she could have brought herself to do this. Zuko placed her in here to protect herself and the others from any harm, but I guess she was too far gone for anyone to have helped her.**

"**Poor Azula…"**

Trying to hold the bile down my throat, I turned on the water form the sink, and I watched as she placed her hand into the streaming water. The incandescent light shone again in the grim-looking room and she placed her hand along the right side of her body. The water molded to her skin and it looked as if was weaving in and out of the wound, mending back what was once ugly and probably infected to smooth cocoa brown skin.

When she had finished healing herself, I placed her down on her feet, and I could see that she was a little off balance. Her face had smudges of makeup smeared across her face, and her dress and hair were in complete disarray.

I heard Mai outside of the room, fuming and screaming at the top of her lungs at the both of us.

Katara looked over at me, and I could see that she was a little awkward at how things had turned out for us.

"You knew that I wouldn't tell Zuko? Didn't you?"

"Not necessarily. I am hoping that you won't, but I knew that you cared too much about him and your tribe to let either fall in this little treaty business."

Her azure eyes looked at me from under her long lashes, "So then what are we going to do then?"

"You are not going to do anything, but help me stall her. I am going to do all of the talking for the both of us."

* * *

><p>Zuko's POV<p>

Xueyou left me a while ago, claiming that as an old man, he needs a whole lot of sleep to keep up with the young youth nowadays. To this I rolled my eyes, and then got back to work at figuring out what Aang wrote.

_What does he mean by that, __"reveal your own destiny"__? It sounds like something that Uncle would tell me half of the time. Maybe Aang has been one too many pages from Uncle's proverb books. Uncle…_

My eyes widened, and I looked at the candle on my desk, thinking back to that night…

**My eyes snapped open, someone's outside. I jumped off of my bed and ran for the door, thrusting the thing open. The curtains that ran down the hallway were billowing under the pressure of the cool wind. A hooded figure ran down the hallway, their cloak flapping behind them.**

**I stepped but two spaces and saw the scroll that was standing vertical on the floor. It read: "You need to know the story of your great grandfather's demise. It will reveal your own destiny." **

Taking hold of the parchment in my hand, I held it over the flame of the candle, to where it was far enough not to catch fire. Then like that very night, I saw bright red words glaring right me in the face.

What on Earth are you doing? Why are you letting her get married to some random stranger?


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Zuko's POV

I glared down at the letter in my hand, and made to read the rest of the hidden message.

* * *

><p><em><span>Zuko, are you kidding me here? What ever happened to our friendship, as the Avatar, I should have been told of this little treaty, but considering how this is being done on the Water Tribe side and they are enforcing this whole thing, I will quit "yell–writing" you. Toph and I will be coming there in the next couple of days, and we are seeing as to whether or not we can pick up Iroh, Sokka, and Suki, but I don't think we'll be able to with Suki. I don't know. See you soon.<span>_

_Aang_

_By the way, it might be harder for us to communicate now that some of out letters are being taken "off route"._

* * *

><p>So not only is he the world's hero, but he is also my murderer. That's just great.<p>

I burned the letter within my hand, leaving no traces of there ever being one. Glancing at the window, I decided that I may as well head off and go to bed, but something tugged at my gut. I couldn't leave Katara angry and sad, I had to apologize for losing my temper so quickly. Getting up from the chair, I walked over to the door, and made to open it, but then someone knocked from the other side. Opening the door, I saw two disgruntled looking figures, one with blue and one with gray eyes.

* * *

><p>Katara's POV<p>

Apparently Zhong and Mai have been sneaking off to that room for a long time, and the only reason why they do is because Zuko would never set one foot into that room anymore.

Zhong had led me through the tunnel system that he discovered not too long ago, while trying to find a way to escape Zuko finding the two together in his bed. It was not long since that he would use the system to continue his affair with Mai behind Zuko's back.

When he found the panel door that led to the door of Zuko's study, he took a deep breath, and pushed on the panel. Looking for anyone that could have spot us climbing out of the tunnel, he finally walked out and helped me out. He then walked to the door, told me to not say a word, and then knocked. The door opened, and I could see the scarred face of the Fire Lord standing before us, looking shocked at our appearance.

"Zuko, we need to talk."

He looked at us closely and moved aside for us to move into the room with him. As I passed he took in my features and then said, "Princess, if you wish you may use thee restroom in here if you would like, it is just through that door over there."

I shifted my eyes in the direction that he was motioning and then turned to look back at Zhong. He merely nodded, and I headed to the room in quick haste, not wanting to be seen like this anymore. However, I did not close the door entirely, making sure that I could hear the two men talking.

"Zhong, why does she look like that?"

"I am not quite sure Zuko, but when I had found her, she seemed in complete distress over something."

I heard some shifting, knowing Zuko probably moved further away from Zhong and the door that was propped open for me to hear.

"I see, well, what is it that you would like to discuss with me that couldn't wait until the morning."

Silence. There was no sound emanating from the room, and I had no idea if it was because Zhong was nervous to tell him about his affair with Mai or because he was thinking of a way to tell him about his affair.

There was a sigh, "I wanted to ask, if you did not mind me in doing so, but I would like it if you sped up the wedding process for the Princess and I, so that the treaty may stand effective immediately."

Time had stopped altogether, and I felt as though I could not breathe anymore. My legs gave out and I thought I might have died right on this floor, until I heard what Zuko had said:

"What are you kidding me? You barely know the girl, and all of a sudden you are trying to force a marriage upon the two of you. What about her, do you honestly think that she wants this?"

"Honestly, I think that she will do just about anything to protect her people."

The entire time that I sat on that cold damp floor, I felt my heart thudding harshly against my chest, and pretty soon I thought that it might have given out. Yet, when Zhong had said that final statement, I felt like the entire world was falling on top of me, and that it was my duty to rise up against the adversity of the whole thing and face facts. Zhong is right, I will do anything to protect my people from harm if I can help it.

Rising from the tile floor, I took a look at my face in the mirror, it had been wiped clean of the makeup and the tearstains, and my hair was slightly out of proportion. Quickly pulling it from the once-elaborate hairdo, it rolled in waves down my back. Looking back to the door, with all of my strength, I forced myself out and stared down the two men dead in the eye.

"Zhong is right, I will do anything to protect the Water Tribe. In this case, I want to marry him as soon as possible."

Two pairs of eyes stared at me… Gold amber was frozen in place, taking a rather somber look in them… Stainless steel gray remained vigilant in their stead, and held a look of great trust.


	21. Chapter 20

AN: Hey guys, thanks for sticking with me thus far. I love writing for you guys and I hope that you keep reading. Please Read and Review. This Chapter is kind of like a filler chapter before things start happening. I didn't want to rush through everything, but I didn't think what I had planned of days in between would work for this, so I kind of cut them out.

Chapter 20

Three Days Later…

Katara's POV

Hands flutter about me as I stand in front of the ornate mirror, and I don't feel them measuring my bust nor my waist. In fact, I don't feel anything at all by this point. Staring into the mirror I do not see anything but the scared young woman, who is nothing but the mere fraction of what she used to be.

What happened to me? Where is that young strong-willed girl, who would take up against pirates, Fire Nation soldiers, and even Azula herself? Did she die, or was she merely replaced by a scared and worn lady, who will not speak up for her own rights?

Yori stands to the left of me, watching as I wither away into nothing but a memory of what I used to be. Her face, though still young, shows her sorrow amongst the many wrinkles that threaten to appear.

I watch as women, young and old, gather about me, gossiping about the latest news: Fire Lord Zuko and Lady Mai have finally set a date for their wedding.

I hear the hushed whispers of, "Oh she will be a beautiful bride!" and the, "It is about time! They have been engaged for five years!"

According to the old hag that is measuring my height, they had decided on the date two days ago…

* * *

><p>Zuko's POV<p>

Sweat rolls down my back, and I can feel the heat being released from my body as I breathe Every punch I send is powerful itself, however, with each punch, it feels as though I am holding back on the power that I press through each flame. I don't even know anymore.

Xueyou sat on a bench in front of a pillar; he had been studying my movements, and had personally been a guide to me ever since the announcements of the weddings. I know it's not good to ask all the questions of the universe, but Uncle won't be here for a few more days, and I can't help but need someone to talk to.

"What troubles you My Lord?"

Speak of the Devil…

Sighing, I said, "I am not really sure, it might be the stress from both of the weddings happening so suddenly?"

He gave me a rather quizzical look, "Really?"

Rolling my eyes, I said, "Kind of… I mean, it more has to deal with the fact that the only reason why we are pushing these weddings is to get at each other."

"Are you sure that you are talking about all of you?"

I looked up at him with weary eyes, "No… I don't want to be alone any longer, and I don't want to hurt Mai any longer on this. I finally understand that what happened to Katara and I was only a thing of the past. Even though I still love her, after all that she has put me through, I now have to look after the future of the Fire Nation…"

* * *

><p>Mai's POV<p>

_The wedding is almost here… The wedding is almost here…_

After so long of working to fight for Zhong's trust, he would shove it aside and get married to that tramp. He won't even talk to me anymore. Why did she have to come and ruin everything for me?

I am sitting at a table with a bunch of disgusting tea sitting in front of me. My mother is sitting across from me, rambling about all the different colors we should use for the wedding.

"Now dear, I know that you are very partial to the color black, but it is not very traditional…"

Snapping out of my reverie, I asked, "How about white?"

My mother's jaw dropped and she looked livid, "Young lady, you know very well that white is a mourning color."

Throwing my arms up in the air, I exasperated, "Exactly!"

Her anger quickly subsided, "What do you mean by that Mai? Are you and the Fire Lord alright?"

Rolling my eyes, "Oh no! Everything is peachy keen! I so want to get married right now!"

Gasping, "What is that suppose to mean?"

Getting up from the table, nearly flipping over the tea, "It means, Mother, that I don't want to be subjected into getting married now to some guy who doesn't even love me!"

I stormed angrily out of the room, gathering all of my skirts in my fists, and heading into my, I mean, mine and Zuko's room.

I wish that everyone could leave me alone. I wish that that slut of a princess would just go rot in a hole alone, and that Zhong would confess his love to me in front of the world. Okay, scratch that last part. I just want him to take me away from here, and we could live somewhere far, far away, where no one would find us.

Thinking back to what I said that night when Zhong left me for her…

"**I want her to pay for what she took away from me! I want her to feel the way I did when I found out that some insignificant slut took the one that I love from me. I want her to know what it is like to feel like she has lost something so precious to her that the world has fallen right from underneath where she stands. And as much as I hate to admit it, but this does not come even close to how I feel every single day, but it comes in as a close second."**

Why would he still leave me for such a tramp? After I expressed how much I hated her for taking him away from me, so that her people can be happy, how could he still leave?

* * *

><p>Unknown POV<p>

In two weeks the wedding uniting the nations will commence, and we will falter under any army that they will command. We need to stop this…

The young boy came back again after being scared off the last time.

"What do you want?"

Shaking like a wet dog, "We have more intel from your source within the palace sir."

My eyebrows quirked, "Oh?"

The boy stood up a little straighter with his chest puffed up a little bit, "Yes sir, they say that there is a way to stop both of the weddings."

I looked at the boy with anger, "Both?"

"Yes, sir, the Fire Lord is to be getting married right after the …"

"Why are they speeding up the weddings, I mean, is there no such thing as romance anymore?"

The boy shook, "I don't know sir, but they told me that Fire Lord is in love sir."

Throwing my hands up in exasperation and turning around to look at the map hanging up behind me, "Yes, yes, to this Lady Mai. I know."

"No sir, actually to the Princess of the Southern Water Tribe…"

I quickly whipped around, scaring the boy right off of his feet, "What?"

"Y-Y-Yes sir, it seems that they had a relationship when they were traveling sir."

"Well then why isn't he marrying her then?"

"I don't know sir, they only told me that the Fire Lord demanded to the council that his marriage to be right after Nobleman Zhong and Princess Katara's wedding without the consent of his fiancé, sir."

"Zhong? Why that wouldn't happen to be Nobleman Huo's son now would it?"

Gulping, the boy whispered, "Yes, sir."

Stroking my chin, "Hmm… Well then, Lieutenant, I want you to message back out little spy to watch very closely over the two couples."


	22. Chapter 21

AN: Okay if you guys didn't understand the whole last chapter, here's a bit of a recap:

Katara is distraught at the fact that she has to get married to Zhong, and she is wondering as to what has happened to her (but she was rather obvious). Zuko is troubled and his bending is taking a big hit from it. He talks to Xueyou about his problems and what his solution is. Mai is obviously angered at Katara for NOT taking Zuko but for taking Zhong away from her by marrying him. She tells her mother that she does not want to get married, but her mother is clueless. She then contemplates what went wrong with her and Zhong. The unknown person is plotting something with the intel that someone gave from inside the palace, and then goes to talk to Zhong's father.

I hope that cleared up a whole lot, and some of it was rather obvious, I know, but I felt that you guys could use a recap just incase.

Chapter 21

Katara's POV

The palanquin that Zhong and I rode in was quite, and only the sound of the men grunting under the amount of weight was heard. I could say that the same went for Mai and Zuko's palanquin. The day was hot, and I grew restless at the thought of sitting on this thing for another minute. I made a motion to move the curtains before the loud distinctive voice of my old mentor came to mind…

"A princess must sit calm and demurely through any amount of impatience or uncomfort."

Stupid bitch…

Placing my hand back onto my lap, I looked through the sheer fabric of the curtain in front of us to see where we were at the current moment. Judging from the fact that I could see the pier, I would say that we were about five minutes away from seeing my friends.

Honestly, I am terrified of what they are going to say about my choice in the whole thing. I haven't told them anything about the marriage, so I am not entirely sure how well they are going to take it, and to the fact that it will be in two weeks. I mean, I just found out that they were coming today, so they might not be in the greatest of moods afterward.

"Ahem…"

Looking over to where Zhong sat next to me, I saw that he was holding out his hand for me to take it. Turning back to the curtain, I noticed that we had already made it over to the pier. Grasping my hand in his, he pulled me from the palanquin and we walked to stand over behind Zuko and Mai.

I watched the sky for some time, checking to see if there was a familiar-looking bison soaring high and mighty through the clouds with familiar faces laughing amongst each other on his back. Then all of a sudden, in the center of the sun, there was a speck of black amongst the bright ball of light getting bigger and bigger.

I could feel a pull on my lips as I saw that little blip getting bigger, and pretty soon I felt an actual smile breaking out on my face. The feeling was so foreign to me; it felt like I hadn't smiled in a really long time, and right now, it felt like I had hope inside of me again.

A gust of air came at us, and I felt my skirt and hair pick up at the burst. I felt my eyes close as the cool breeze flittered across my skin, and as I heard the loud rumbling thud of Appa settling upon the ground, I felt a sense of nostalgia for all of the travels we made around the world together.

"Katara?"

Opening my eyes back to the present, I saw Sokka standing in front of me with a worried look on his face.

I only rolled my eyes and opened my arms, "Well aren't you going to come and hug your sister?"

He chuckled at that and came to hold me in his arms. He hadn't really changed all too much, I mean, sure he was taller than he had been when he was sixteen, and he developed some more muscle, but he was still the same Sokka. Oh, who am I kidding, the guy grew a beard, but really he stayed to his true nature and still had the wolf tale haircut, that part never really changed.

"Hey how about some love for the rest of us? Don't just hog her all to yourself Sokka!"

Escaping from the warm embrace, I looked around him and saw a very big and pregnant Suki. Her hair was longer than her traditional cut, and she didn't have her Kyoshi Warrior uniform on her either, but rather a very pale green kimono.

Walking over to her, I wrapped my arms as best as I could around her, and said, "Suki, you look absolutely beautiful, I can't wait to be an aunt."

We released, and she said, placing her hands on her big belly, "Yes, well I can't wait to be a mother, and get this thing out of me. You would not believe how uncomfortable this really is."

We both laughed loudly, and soon I was felt the ground shifting right under my feet.

"Hey Sugar Queen, you don't look half bad."

Looking down at my dress, "Oh thank you Toph! You don't look so bad your…"

I glared at the blind earthbender, "Looks like I still got it Sugar Queen."

"Haha very funny Toph."

I walked over to her and gave her a firm hug. She was finally grown into her full height, and she had herself a very feminine figure. Her hair was still up in that same giant bun with a headband, but she didn't hide her eyes from view anymore with her long raven bangs.

Releasing her, I looked over to General Iroh, and gave him a quick and brief hug. I didn't really get to know him as well as the others had, but I knew and felt like I was going to very soon.

"It is such a pleasure to see you again, Princess Katara."

"Just Katara please, and the pleasure is all mine."

The last to get off of Appa was of course the one with the shiniest head of them all. Aang had grown taller and was no longer that little scrawny kid that had a huge crush on me when we were traveling. He didn't have a lot of muscles, but was rather lean, and he towered over me by about two heads.

"Aang…"

Smiling, the bald monk wrapped his arms around me, and whispered, "It is very good to see you again Katara."

I felt so happy with everyone smiling and laughing. It actually reminded me of the days when we were traveling, and I knew that things were going to be okay. That is until Sokka said:

"So Katara, when were going to actually tell us that you were getting married?"

Everyone's eyes were on me, and I felt like my world was spinning right back out of control…

* * *

><p>Zuko's POV<p>

I watched as she struggled to answer the question, squirming under the stares of her brother and the others.

"Maybe she was wanting to tell it to you face to face?"

I didn't even realize that the words came out of my mouth.

Sokka didn't look too happy, "Butt out Zuko, this doesn't concern you one bit. Oh wait! This is all of your fault."

I felt the anger writhing inside of me, "My fault?"

"Ya," he said, poking my chest, "Your fault."

"How on Earth could it have possibly been my fault that your people wanted to establish peace through an arranged marriage?"

"What? An arranged marriage? Why would Dad want to marry off Katara so that there is peace? I thought that there wasn't any need for a treaty."

Before I could answer that Katara spoke up finally, "Sokka, the marriage is to ensure the safety of our people. Since you married Suki, you didn't have to go through this. I was the next in line for the throne, and since I was the only princess left of either of the Water Tribes, I am to be married to someone from inside of the Fire Nation."

He looked pissed off, "Why wasn't I told of any of this? I could have prevented this from happening."

She looked down, "By the time that they thought of the whole ordeal, you were already announcing your wedding. I am only to be used as a peace token."

Somehow her saying this calmed him down a bit, and then he was back to his pissed off self at me.

"Well then why didn't you tell me? Why on Earth did you go along with this?"

My anger elevated, "I did try to stop this! Your insane sister, however, wouldn't stop saying how it was her duty to her people to do this."

Taken aback, he glanced over at Katara, "Is that true?"

She barely nodded her head at the question. Tears were glistening in her eyes, and I didn't want this madness to continue.

"Maybe we should head back to the palace now, and we can finish discussing this-"

"Is this him?"

I looked back to where he had his hand extended, pointing at the worried looking Zhong, who was standing next to Mai.

Zhong quickly shifted his feet, and muttered a quiet, "Yes."

A shrill laughter emitted from the air, and we all turned and looked at the young blind earthbender.

Trying to stifle her laugh, she said, "There is no way that he is Sugar Queen's fiancé."


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Zhong's POV

Startled by the young girl's abrasiveness toward my title, I glared at her.

How dare she mock my standards? How am I not Katara's fiancé, am I not good enough or is she merely toying with me?

Staring into the girl's eyes, I noticed that they were vacant, and although she had a sarcastic look on her face, her eyes gave away to nothing.

Is she…

Katara spoke up, "What do you mean there is no way he is my fiancé?"

The girl scoffed, "He doesn't act right. In fact, he doesn't act at all like he is YOUR fiancé, he acts like he is Ma-"

I interrupted her before she could finish, "I think it is best that we follow after the Fire Lord's wishes and go back to the palace now for some lunch."

Katara's brother, Sokka, I think, nearly just about ran to the carriages, exclaiming something like, "I agree with the sister stealer, let's get some food!"

As we were walking to the carriages, I looked back to see the girl staring at me. She walked up toward me, and I don't know why, but I felt terrified as to what she would do.

Whispering very quietly, she said, "I don't know what game your playing here, Jumpy, but I am warning you," lifting herself up to her full height, and jabbing me in the chest with her finger, "If you dare hurt Katara or Zuko, there will be Hell to pay. You got me?"

Before I could answer her, she walked off in the direction of the Avatar, latching onto his arm.

Turning back over to where Katara was standing, I saw that she had her arms crossed and staring a little amused at what just happened.

"So I see that Toph 'really' likes you."

I scoffed, "Oh yeah, she and I are going to get along great…"

* * *

><p>Toph's POV<p>

_Something isn't adding up right with this Zhong guy, I don't know but he isn't acting like he is going to be getting married to Katara. Feeling the two couples' reactions to different things, I don't see how he isn't really happy being with Katara. Normally when we were growing up, I could see that any guy would want to be with Katara, but it's like with this guy he just doesn't like her. _

_Wait, I did feel the only time that his emotions would spike was when I threatened him, and then when he was standing next to…_

_There is going to be a whole lot of shit going on the next couple weeks._

I barely noticed it when Aang unraveled our arms, and he wrapped his arms around mine. A large amount heat came to my face, and I could feel my heart pounding hard against my chest.

Things were definitely going to get interesting…

* * *

><p>Katara's POV<p>

"Oh my La, I have died and gone off into the spirit world. This meat is amazing!"

I hardly tried to contain my eyes from rolling at Sokka. His mouth was stuffed with tons of food, and I don't think that anyone was willing to have a conversation with him right at this moment.

"Princess Kat-… I mean, pardon me, Katara, how are the wedding plans doing? I heard that you only have a few weeks before the ceremony commences."

Turning to look at the wise man, I said, "Oh, well the plans are getting along wonderfully, I already have my dress getting started. I felt really bad for the dress makers having to do this at such short notice, but Zhong and I-"

Before I could ever finish with my sentence, Zhong interrupted from my right, "We just wanted to be married as soon as possible."

I smiled gravely, "Yes, yes we did."

Toph snorted from where she was sitting diagonal from me, "Sure doesn't seem like it."

Feeling anger well up inside of me, I froze her soup inside of the bowl under my breath. Zuko however sitting on Zhong's other side took notice of this and quirked his brow at the blind girl's soup. Then when he looked over to where I was sitting, I forced my head to look down into my bowl of soup.

This however did not stop him…

"What is that suppose to mean Toph?"

"It means," she said, "That Sweetness over there doesn't want to get married, and neither does he."

I felt like my heart just about died right now, and that I was just an empty corpse on the floor.

Suddenly someone spoke up above the entire loud silence that had taken over the room, "Well of course they don't want to get married!"

I looked over to see that Mai was standing up, fuming, "They don't want to get married because they are being forced to by their nations' leaders."

Glancing over at Toph, I saw that she was giving a rather devilish smirk…

Zhong by this point had risen up from his seat next to me, his face infuriated, "What the Hell Mai? You don't think that we can make a few decisions by ourselves? Well I'll have you know that I can decide things for myself, without your input on every little thing."

And I thought that Mai couldn't show any emotion, but here she is livid and looking just about ready to kill, "Oh yeah? Well you have made that very clear with all of the crap that we have been through ever since those 'savages' came here. Oh but I know that you don't mind marrying her, I mean, she is so frickin' beautiful and you could easily fall in love with her. Plus she is probably so frickin' easy to get into bed."

The world turned red by this point…

I felt the bowl in Toph's bowl melt back into liquid, and pretty soon I also felt all of the water in the room rocking heavily against the glass bowls and cups.

"Shut up you bitch! Why don't you look in the mirror before you start pointing the finger at anyone!"

Mai was unfazed by any of the glassware shaking against the wooden table, "Oh whatever! Says the boyfriend snatcher, like you have never slept with a guy before."

"I have not EVER been intimate with any man!"

"That is the biggest lie that I have ever heard!"

Before either of us could say anything more, Toph got up as well, "Actually she is telling the truth, I can tell by feeling the vibrations in the room," and then she sat down in her seat again, taking a bite into a dumpling.

Mai just let that roll off of her, "Fine then she has never slept with a guy, but she has stolen guys from me before."

By this point, Zuko had gotten up with the three of us as well, "'Guys'? Just how many to be exact?"

Mai went pale and started stumbling with her words, "No, I meant 'guy', she has only stolen one guy from me, but I got you back."

Toph didn't even bother with getting up this time, "Now THAT is the biggest lie I have ever heard. Even bigger than the time that Katara told me that that guy Jet wasn't her boyfriend."

You could feel the heat rolling off of Zuko right now, "So who are these other guys? I mean, last I checked you told me before we ever got together that you had never dated anyone, so who on Earth could it be?"

I don't know if there was anyone who was more obtuse in this very moment, but everyone stared hard at Zuko.

Toph got restless with the silence that once again took over the entire room…

"Sparky, sorry to say this, but are you really that much of an idiot?"

His eyes snapped in the direction of the young earthbender, and I could see that would have killed her right now, but then his eyes widened, and he looked directly at Zhong.

"You?"

I looked to where Zhong was trying to make himself look smaller, but before he could say anything, a flash of deep red pounced on him, and the two "friends" were fighting with each other.


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Sokka's POV

_What on Earth is wrong with these people? _

My entire jaw felt like it was on the floor as I watched Zuko deck it out with Zhong. The two guys wrestled as much as they could with all of the Fire Nation robes on them, and I could see that Zuko was in for the kill when he started punching the guy.

_Why aren't they fighting with fire, they both are fire benders right?_

"It is such a shame to see such a friendship end based on the sake of distrust and backstabbing."

I looked over at General Iroh, and he held a very saddened face as he watched his nephew confronting his friend. Now I understood that they didn't want to fight fire with fire, but rather skin to skin, to show who was a true man in this fight.

* * *

><p>Katara's POV<p>

Zuko…

I saw blood spurting from Zhong's nose, and I nearly went in to heal it, but I could see that this was truly a fight between the two friends. I felt so ashamed at myself for what had transpired within the last several minutes, but I was relieved that I did not have to hide such a secret from anyone any longer.

Looking over at the others, I saw that Aang was uncomfortable watching the two men fight, but I guess he finally matured enough to know that they needed to confront this. Suki looked frightened for the boys and what could possibly happen to them. Sokka I knew understood that they were angry with each other, and he has had experience with this before with other guys. Iroh was melancholy at the fact that his nephew's best friend had betrayed him. Toph looked excited, but I knew that she might feel a little guilt later for what had happened just now. Mai was seething and crying in anger at the same time, and she kept screaming at the boys to stop fighting and at us to stop them.

"What the Hell is going on?"

Whipping around in the direction of the door, I saw that dad and Bato were standing in the hallway watching the spectacle. With me not being the only one to notice, the boys finally stopped fighting with each other and pulled apart. Zuko had gotten up, straightening his robes and looking at dad with a scorned look on his face.

"What is going on is both of the weddings are canceled. Your daughter is not getting married to this ungrateful, backstabbing piece of shit!"

My dad had never looked more confused in my entire life, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Zuko took a breath, "He had slept with my fiancé behind my back for Agni knows how long, before he agreed to be engaged to your daughter."

Mai just about wanted to kill him, "Oh believe me when I say this, but we have been sleeping together for years, and then even after he agreed to the little treaty. Your little tramp of a daughter found out about it too."

Sokka just about jumped up after that, "Shut the Hell up!"

Zuko didn't look at Sokka or say anything to him; he was just staring at me.

"You knew this whole time, and you never told me anything."

I felt tears beginning to prickle my eyes, "I had found out about it a few days ago, but she made me swore not to tell, and then he told you that we wanted to get married as soon as possible."

Once again, amber turned hard, and he glared at Zhong again, "That was why you wanted the whole thing to be quick, so that you could get away with everything?"

Zhong only scowled right back at him and said, "No, I wanted to be as far away from you and Mai as possible. She was still clearly in love with you, and she could never get over it. She only toyed and played with my mind."

Mai nearly pounced on him herself, "That's a lie. I love you, Zhong. That's why I wanted her to feel the pain, I wanted her to understand the pain that I had losing you."

They stared at each other for the longest time, and pretty soon Zhong was looking at Zuko, "I know that I haven't been a friend to you, but if you could find it in your heart to let us just run away from this. We would never have to ever see you again, and we will save you from any of this heartache. You will never see us again if you would only let us do this, just please?"

* * *

><p>Zuko's POV<p>

I stared for the longest time at the two of them. Even though the length of a table separated them, I could see that they depended on each other. I knew that I could never give Mai the happiness that she deserved, and that I was never really in love with her, just the fact that she and Zhong were my last link to the past that I had. To the family that never really wanted me…

Looking over to where Katara was standing, I saw that she was staring right back at me. Her soft azure eyes were melting from the icy frost that held them into calming oceans. It took me back to that night that we had shared our first kiss, the night that I told her I loved her…

Snapping out of my thoughts, I turned over to where Mai and Zhong were standing. Both of them had anxious looks, scared of what I could say in the next moment.

"Get out… I never want to see either of you again…"


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Katara's POV

We watched as they ran from the room as fast as they could, never to look back again on what their lives used to be.

I could see that my dad was pissed off beyond all belief, "You're letting them go? What about the peace treaty? What about-"

Before he could finish up little tantrum, Iroh had pulled him aside, saying how 'everything will fall into place when the time is right, but for now we must deal with other matters.'

Walking over to Zuko, I placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked into my eyes. The golden orbs were stone solid, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him at this point, but I knew that there was nothing that anyone could do right now. He took my hand in his and motioned for me to follow him, so I did.

* * *

><p>"I want to apologize for anything that the both of them did to you, and I will try to work out some arrangement for your people to be happy."<p>

I nodded, taking in the words that he spoke to heart. He was always good to his word, and I know that he would never intentionally hurt me.

"You do not have to apologize my Lord. You did not know what was taking place at the time; it is not your fault."

I could feel a wave of heat encircling me, "Would you stop being so formal with me? We are the only ones in this room. I just wish that you could be real with me, and not something that your tribe molded you to become."

"I am being real with you right now. You just lost your best friend and your fiancé for the other, I mean, I am only trying to be a little considerate toward your feelings right now."

"I don't want you to be like that! I want the real you, not some trained dancing monkey."

I took a few steps toward him, "Well, this is the real me! This is who I have become, I grew up after five years."

He began getting closer to me, "No, this is what you have been developed into after five years. The real Katara would spar against me right now for even accusing her, but the only time you ever waterbend is when your angry. The real Katara would yell at me for accusing her of being someone she isn't. The real Katara would even water whip me just for good measure. The real Katara would…"

"Shut up! This is me; this is the 'real Katara'. You are just going to have to face the facts that-"

He cut me off with his lips pressing aggressively against mine, and pretty soon, we began making out in his office. I couldn't remember why we were fighting…

* * *

><p>A few weeks later…<p>

Unknown POV

The candles moved as I breathed in and out, as though they were alive themselves. The tent flap opened…

"Sir, it seems as though the weddings were canceled."

My eyes snapped open, "What?"

"Yes, sir, it appears that Nobleman Zhong and Lady Mai had an affair and ran off together."

"Then what of the Fire Brat and his princess?"

"I-I-I don't know sir, the source didn't tell me anything about them."

"Did you ask?" I asked the boy getting angrier by the second.

"No, sir."

"You idiot! You were tasked to do only one thing, and you can't even do that right!"

"I am s-s-sorry sir."

I began to laugh a deep, thundering laugh, "Not as sorry as your going to be."

I placed my hand on the boy's head, pushing heat through my veins and into my hand. The boy was not a firebender, and would soon feel what real pain was like.

"PLEASE! STOP!"

I only laughed louder as I felt the boy's hair frizz and burn as my hand produced flames. Soon his skin was melting from where my hand was, and I could smell the foul scent of burnt flesh in the tent. His head had melted in and it was scorched in some places where my fingers were. When I released my hand, his body dropped to the ground and I clicked my tongue.

"Tisk, tisk, tisk. Someone clean this mess up, and be sure to clear out that foul smell!"

* * *

><p>AN: Thanks you guys for this, I know that I was long overdue for this, but I hope that you liked it. Please Read and Review. I am hoping to make a sequel for this, but hopefully it won't take me as long to do it.<p> 


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